Bright Eyes
USA | Indie Folk | 1995 - present
Bright Eyes is an American band consisting of singer-songwriter/guitarist Conor Oberst, multi-instrumentalist/producer Mike Mogis, Nate Walcott, and a rotating lineup of collaborators drawn primarily from Omaha's indie music scene.
While Bright Eyes remains signed to the independent label Saddle Creek Records, the band enjoys mainstream popularity that rivals that of major label bands: in 2004, the singles "Lua" and "Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" took the top two spots of Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Sales chart within two weeks of their simultaneous release.
Early years
By the time Commander Venus disbanded in 1997, Bright Eyes had become Oberst's main focus. In 1998, he released another 20 of the songs he had been stockpiling as the first official Bright Eyes album, A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997. The album saw Oberst beginning to experiment with drum machines, keyboards and other instruments. The sound of the album ranges from bleating vocals, which at the beginning were criticized as sounding like an inauthentic David Dondero, to acoustic guitar songs and techno-style synthesizer instrumentals. Critical reaction was brilliant, with All Music Guide saying that many of "the songs disintegrate as his vocals are reduced to the intelligible babbling of a child. Any balance the music maintained up to that point, however fragile, is perfect and so, more than likely, is the listener."
Saddle Creek put forth Letting Off the Happiness on November 2, 1998, a ten track piece that boasted a much more focused and clear sound than the previous album. According to the Saddle Creek press release, it features members of Lullaby for the Working Class, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Of Montreal. Park Ave. bandmate Neely Jenkins contributed some vocals as well. It was predominantly recorded in the Oberst family basement in Omaha on an analog eight track reel to reel; with some work also done at keyboardist Andy Lemaster's Athens, Georgia studio. Although almost all of the tracks feature a full band, "June on the West Coast" is performed with only acoustic guitar and vocals. "Padraic My Prince" gives a dramatic fictional account of the death of his baby brother, a story with a multitude of symbolic meanings. Oberst references the song in "Cartoon Blues" on the Four Winds EP.
In November 1999, Bright Eyes released the Every Day and Every Night EP featuring five songs including "Neely O'Hara" and "A Perfect Sonnet". This album was a departure from Oberst's earlier work. He experimented more broadly with ambient recordings and progressed with his soulful sound.
Fevers and Mirrors
In 2000, Bright Eyes released Fevers and Mirrors, a demonstration of the improvement in production quality and musical vision of the band. New instruments such as the flute, piano, and accordion were introduced into the song arrangements. After "An Attempt to Tip the Scales", there is a mock radio interview that features Todd Fink of The Faint doing an impression of Oberst while reading a script that Oberst wrote. In this interview, the fake Oberst presents a strange, contradictory explanation of his attitude towards his music. It acknowledges criticisms of his lyrics as overblown and insincere, which had begun to appear as the popularity of the band increased, but responds by stating that the lyrics are meant for personal interpretation. Oberst later commented that "It was a way to make fun of ourselves because the record is such a downer. I mean, that's one part of who I am but I also like laughing and fucking around."
Band
The name of the band comes from a film Oberst watched on Turner Classic Movies in which the male protagonist repeatedly called the girl "bright eyes" as an endearing term.