As Bright Eyes (aka Connor Oberst) has hit indie critical mass it has become cool, of course, to think that he is not cool. And as much as I like to jump on a ’so cool it’s not cool’ bandwagon, the fact of the matter is that lil’ Connor here has never disappointed me. Even when the kid fucks up, I still want to listen to the end product 100x more than most people’s successes. For example, his recent ‘Digital Ash…’ album, which most describe as ‘inferior’ to the simultaneously release ‘I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning’, is still one of the best CDs of the year by far. And while I respect all opinions, If you don’t agree with me on this one you’re obviously a commie scenester. Enjoy that new Franz Ferdinand album as it sucks away your soul.
Mr. Oberst’s live shows are equally as satisfying. I’ve seen the kid live in all his various voltron formations: full 234 person band at the Henry Fonda: Excellent. Mid level, normal band formation at the Glass House: Outstanding. Solo acoustic form with Jim James and M. Ward at some fucked up place near the fashion district in LA: Fucking great.
As a ’shun the spotlight’ type, the videos Bright Eyes has released so far have been sparse and atypical. The common thread has so far been that Connor himself does not appear in any of them. This latest release, for ‘At the Bottom of Everything” from “I’m Wide Awake…” continues that trend. It’s directed by Cat Solen who you may recall as the director of his earlier “Bowl of Oranges” video. This latest work is a rather literal interpretation of the song, which details a crashing plane and the process of finding peace and accepting yourself in those last moments. Given that topic I’d figure this video would be a beautiful disaster, but Cat manages to capture the essence of the song quite well. The video ‘fits’ with the song without overshadowing it, instead adding a nice visual texture to the aural flavor. And while the video won’t blow you away with any Gondry/Jonze-style technical wizardry, it does have stop-motion clouds blowing stop motion planes. Stop-motion anything blowing stop-motion anything always gets my stamp of approval.
Other then them mouthing the words (I don’t think I needed that) it is a masterpiece. Fabulous. I love the clouds; they look like they’re from the island of the misfits. You may find me twisted but the song makes me happy. “I found out I was really no one” well at least he found out.
-George-