Bright Eyes - The People's Key (Album Review)

BRIGHT EYES * THE PEOPLE'S KEY

(Saddle Creek)

Love him or hate him, Conor Oberst has been an important rock and/or roll fixture over the course of the past many years. No disrespect to Oberst's Mystic Valley Band or his all-star Monsters of Folk, but these were offshoots. It was about time he got back to the reason many of us fall into the former of the aforementioned sentiments, his influential and unmistakable Bright Eyes.

The People's Key opens with "Firewall," not so much a song but rather a lecture on extraterrestrial life forms and the infinite space that surrounds us all. While I can't shake the fact that the commentator sounds like former Presidential hopeful and Law & Order alum Fred Thompson, the voice actually belongs to Oberst's friend Denny Brewer of the deliciously-named band Refried Ice Cream. Brewer's voice pops up throughout the record, but this 2:20 opening is The People's Key's defining WTF moment. 

That leads straight into the first single, "Shell Games," which gives an obvious nod to 2005's Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, and shows us that we are not experiencing the Conor Oberst of the past half-decade, but rather the adventurous & inventive spirit that we came to love in his early works.  On "Haile Selasse," Oberst slyly declares "I've seen stranger things happen before." This is one of the many times throughout the record where we feel like we're in on an inside joke. Much of The People's Key feels like Conor Oberst is winking at us. It's as if he knows this is the record we've been waiting for the past 6 years.

Where The People's Key shines is also where it sometimes feels too restrained. Oberst has always had a knack for writing melodious, catchy hooks. Those found on several of the tracks on this album begin to pop with intensity, then disappear as quickly as they arrive. Case in point, the pseudo-title track "A Machine Spiritual (In The People's Key)." Oberst's chorus smacks you in the face with delight, then instantly pops you back as it stops before you even knew it began. It sounds like he's unsure of himself, and there's no reason for that.

The People's Key is a return to form, but not a natural one. Although Oberst definitely knows how to please his fan base, it'd be nice to hear him do it with a tad less apprehension. Dude, you can write. You can sing. Now just embrace it.

Grade: B+