One of the most moving live shows I’ve seen was at the rather tatty and small Night & Day club in Manchester several years ago. It featured acts from a USA indie label, run by Conor Oberst and several other musicians performing that night. I was struck with Oberst’s musical maturity at such a young age, and the comradeship displayed by all the supporting musicians. Bright Eyes consists of Oberst (voice and guitar), Mike Mogis (bass, pedal steel, vibraphone, glockenspiel) and Nate Walcot (organ, piano). Several other musicians also feature on this lovely album including M Ward (guitar), Maria Taylor (voice), Jason Boesel (drums) and Anton Patzner (violin).

No One Would Riot For Less arrives as track 10 and while there are many excellent tracks here, Oberst’s quivering, emotional falsetto vocal on this one floored me. It’s also a prime example of how the artist has developed as a songwriter: “Death may come invisible or in a holy wall of fire/In the breath between the markers on some black I-80 mile/From the madness of the governments to the vengeance of the sea/Everything is eclipsed by the shape of destiny.” The song has the most moving ambience and is nothing less than compelling. The rest of the album describes the serious ills that the world is facing from war to poverty to drug addiction, with a couple of love songs thrown in for good measure. Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Killed opens the album with female spoken dialogue before Oberst’s clear vocal comes into view. The song is simple, direct and epic. Four Winds follows in strong country style with fiddles, drums and guitar thumping away in grand style. There’s a certain irony here as the song doesn’t sound as though it is as doom-laden as it is, but the excellent lyrics tell the true story: “Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe/There are people always dying trying to keep them alive/There are bodies decomposing in containers tonight in an abandoned building…” Hot Knives boasts another fabulous instrumental showing while still allowing Oberst to shine through vocally and lyrically. A typically strong melody and rampant choruses completes another superb package. Musical style is diverse throughout the album and is exemplified by the love song which follows, Make A Plan To Love Me - an out and out pop ditty with angelic vocal harmonies and cinematic orchestrations.

CASSADAGA is my favourite Bright Eyes album to-date, with its bold ambience, diverse styles and spellbinding lyrical strength.

4/5