(Saddle Creek)
Genius or pretentious? It cuts both ways with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst, the 27-year-old poet laureate of indie rock. On Cassadaga — named after a psychic-heavy town in Central Florida, but not all that tied to it thematically — the former boy wonder (Oberst has been writing and recording since age 14) once again unleashes reams of verse that range from brilliant to embarrassing.
He smartly drapes his musings in rich, organic soundscapes of piano, organ, pedal steel, vibraphone and Dobro to create a country noir package that ranks as the most accessible Bright Eyes album to date. String sections sweeten word-dense choruses, and front-porch fiddle takes the edge off a horrible pun like "It's the Sum of Man slouching towards Bethlehem," a clunker line from "Four Winds." It's one of the album's most melodic cuts, but it's burdened by forced Biblical references that ring out like bad Leonard Cohen imitations and undermine the "Imagine"-style statement the author intends to make.
"The Bible is blind, the Torah is deaf, the Qur'an is mute," Oberst sings in his youthful, everyman voice. "If you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth."
Oberst isn't a topical songwriter, per se, but he does allow current affairs to inform his work. On "Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)," for example, Oberst alludes to global warming and Christian vs. Muslim religious strife; he slams the media and tips his hat to Bob Dylan — the songwriter to whom he is often, misguidedly, compared — all within a few brilliantly written lines.
Unlike Dylan, or even latter-era Cohen or Lou Reed, Oberst is unwilling or unable to infuse his songs with even the slightest bit of humor — not even the pitch-black variety favored by even the most somber of folkies. On "Hot Knives," Oberst sings, "Oh, I've made love, yeah, I've been fucked, so what?/ I'm a cartoon, you're a full moon, let's stay up." And it's like: Great, the dude's finally loosening up, having a bit of fun with language and maybe the crazy importance we humans put on screwing. But just after Oberst adds that much-needed conversational element to his lyrics, he follows with the bullshit symbolism of "She went to see a Mystic who made medicine from rain/ And gave up her existence to feel everything, dream others' dreams." Bright Eyes performs May 16 at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. 3 stars —Wade Tatangelo
Reformation: Post TLC
The Fall
(Narnack)
The Fall releasing a biennial collection of hopped-up post-punk garage rock is only slightly less dependable than the sun rising every morning, but consistency hasn't always been the band's game. You don't go through 53 line-ups without some bumps in the road. Reformation: Post TLC features a brand new crew of musicians backing up ranter-in-chief Mark E. Smith and is a slight dip in quality from the group's recent output. Smith's new collaborators just don't flex the muscle necessary to keep up with their leader's slurred misanthropy. It's telling that this album succeeds most on the mellower tracks, particularly on the jaunty Merle Haggard cover "White Line Fever." 3 stars —Cooper Levey-Baker
The Bottom Half
Umphrey's McGee
(Sci Fidelity)
A collection of B-sides and outtakes from 2006's Safety in Numbers, this two-disc set is yet another reminder that Umphrey's McGee aren't interested in bringing the vivacious energy and in-your-face progginess of their live shows to disc. In fact, several tracks on The Bottom Half are so overproduced that the natural dynamism of the band's music is lost as a result. "Red Moon" and "Memories of Home" are easy listening, countrified pop numbers — pleasant but nothing special — and while the synth-heavy, retro-funk number "Bright Lights, Big City" has always possessed a certain level of cheese, unnecessary sound effects and electric drum samples give it an early '90s adult contemporary flavor. The second disc entirely makes up for the somewhat lackluster quality of the first, however. Recorded and mixed in a variety of settings, it features bits and pieces from studio sessions, cuts from songwriting sessions (banter included), original sketches of various songs, excerpts from pre-production, snippets and plenty more — overall, a captivating snapshot of the songwriting process. 3 stars —Leilani Polk
This article appears in May 2-8, 2007.