Conor Oberst Shows the Wild Colors of His Destiny

By Andrew William Smith, Editor

September 18, 2008

Taking a break from recording with Bright Eyes, Conor Oberst’s self-titled solo album served late summer 2008 with a lyrical carnival of unforgettable folk songs sure to serenade autumn with its haunting melodies and brilliant poetry.

A prolific prodigy since he began releasing records as a teenager in Omaha, Oberst has evolved into an energetic purveyor of epic songs. The maturing magic of the 28-year-old is comforting and confident on this 12-song package recorded this past winter in Mexico.
Spinning phrases of ferocious creativity with what appears as spontaneous veracity, Oberst’s lyrics conjure the surrealistic potency of cultural movements like the Beats. With a spiritual debt to the Sixties folk revival, it’s no surprise that his juicy lyrical juxtapositions have invoked numerous comparisons to Neil Young and Bob Dylan.
From the flying saucers of “Cape Canaveral” to the pink flamingos living in the mall of “Lenders in the Temple,” the songs combine the biblical with the bacchanalian in classic rock and roll beatitudes. In a refrain that would make Jack Kerouac proud, the rocker “Moab” reminds us: “There’s nothing that the road cannot heal/Washed under the black tar, gone beneath my wheels/ There’s nothing that the road cannot heal.”

The spicy specificity of the poetic line brings its full effect on Conor Oberst, performed with The Mystic Valley Band who bring the perfect accompaniment, included the appropriately jazzy keyboards of Nate Walcott that really shine on the timeless anthem “I Don’t Want to Die (In The Hospital).”
Down in the barrio of irony, neither magic bullets nor magic carpets can get us into heaven because the venue has been “Souled Out.” But if we can’t count on an afterlife in the theology of Conor Oberst, at least this earthy paradise has been made so much more bearable and beautiful because of songs like these.

Conor Oberst was released on Merge Records on August 5, 2008. For more information, please visit http://www.conoroberst.com/