Hi, do you know Conor Oberst? Of course you do. You first knew him as Bright Eyes. What, I don’t know if you liked Bright Eyes; you never told me. I can’t keep track of everything you say you liked. I’m just here to share, baby. Sometimes I don’t even remember what I wrote last month. (Which wasn’t much, actually, so I guess I have an excuse there.)
He did a little bit of this before Bright Eyes and a little bit of that after Bright Eyes, eventually calling himself and his backing band Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band… oh, and somewhere squished in there he also participated in a lil side diddy called Monsters of Folk. .
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band was on the OutsideLands lineup, and I don’t know why we skipped their show while we were there. Maybe you can scan through our podcasts and find out. They played festivals and concerts all over. I wish we had caught a performance last year. I am really loving this second album, Outer South.
Board up the windows, unplug the phone
Make it look like nobody’s home
Well, I’m real scared so prepare for the worst
Don’t get scared away if I compare this song to the Arcade Fire. You may not like AF but everyone with taste loves them, so shush it. There are so many strong tracks on this album but this is one of my favorites. Check out “Big Black Nothing”:
Download Conor Oberst – Big Black Nothing
But don’t even think for one second that this song represents the rest of the sounds on this album. A fun love song that I enjoy every time it comes on is “Air Mattress”, which reminds me of surf songs of the 60’s, teen pop songs of the 80’s, and you know what? It makes me think of Stealers Wheel in the 70’s and surely someone who laid it on that electronic keyboard in the 90’s as well.
Download Conor Oberst – Air Mattress
I’ve got a ton more tracks I would love to share with you off this album, for one reason or another. Lyrics are great on this one. The mood is just right on that one. Or any other excuses to use the words this and that just one more time on this blog post. Or I could bogart this post altogether and dedicate a song to Mookie.
Sitting on a plane chewing Nicorette
Paradise lost, haven’t found it yet
Will you talk me down if I get upset?
Be the cool washcloth to my fevered head
Because I don’t wanna dream if it won’t come true
I don’t wanna dream if it don’t come true
If there’s somethin’ in me then I guess it’s in you
If there’s somethin’ in me then I know it’s in you
