What is it with Conor Oberst and swoony intro tracks built around real-life recordings of a couple in a car (Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground), a plane-crash narrative (I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning) or himself sleeping (Digital Ash in a Digital Urn)? The practice is as much a calling card as his easily-bruised song characters and refusal to play Clear Channel-owned venues, but that doesn’t stop most listeners from letting the intrinsic meaning absorb exactly once, then skipping ahead with each subsequent listen.
A series of clairaudients (spiritual mediums) muse over Cassadaga’s psychedelic-leaning first cut, and as always, it’s no accident. Having reluctantly come to terms with living inside his own skin, his hometown of Omaha and his adopted crashpad of New York City over the course of six previous albums, the Bright Eyes mastermind now sets out to find himself within the country; specifically within its multitude of belief systems. Encompassing a Christian God, Mother Nature, all-consuming romance, the mysteries of the pyramids, tea leaves, drugs and more, the goal is a Great American Road Trip in search of capital-A Answers.
Cassadaga is Bright Eyes’ most expansive album to date, and the most eclectic. While not the most infectious (that’d be Lifted), it’s certainly the most mature. Strings, horns, mountain twang, dancehall swing, pop singalong and indie earnestness abound. Wavering optimism pervades. Though Oberst doesn’t necessarily achieve spiritual clarity, his journey provides inspiration enough to stop digging in his heels and take several significant forward strides. Next stop, the world.