Conor Oberst is a damn good musician despite his overindulgent personality and apparent vanity. His lyrics are genius, a talent obscured by his tendency to include his more trite, cliché passages as well. He writes catchy, interesting folk-rock songs, that suffer from no great flaw or drawback, aside from the fact that maybe people are growing a bit bored of his after ten years of releasing everything he was even somewhat interested in. I love this, more so than I liked any Bright Eyes albums. Nearly every song here is on par with the stronger material on those albums, and he’s grown a bit more mature and has released a relatively consistant album. The first two tracks, especially, are among his best. This is wonderful, just steer clear of his Christmas album and the solo record he released before he hit puberty.
mediafire
This four-song EP was sold on The Mystic Valley band’s 2008 U.S. tour in limited quantities. I was able to find it in mp3 form shortly after the tour ended. Being a fan of his, I may be biased but I’d say it’s a welcome addition to his catalog. Two of these tracks, the dreary “Synesthete Song” and “Corina, Corina,” a cover of a traditional folk song, are not especially offensive but I could take or leave them. The other two tracks stand out. “Gentlemen’s Pact” is a catchy upbeat rocker with his typical social/political undertones and observational nature. “Breezy” is a pleasant piano ballad with some fine lyrics. mediafire
