Conor Oberst
Outer South
Review by Justin Carretta
It took 29 years and launching a solo career for Conor Oberst to join a real band.
Bright Eyes, despite Oberst's insistence, isn't really a band. Sure, Mike Mogis is a member of the band, but in the end, it's all CO's show, and his vehicle. There's a reason so many people have called him "Bright Eyes," like it's on his birth certificate.
The band hasn't 'broken up,' but Oberst has branched off into his solo work, releasing a self-titled album last year. For his second non-Bright Eyes, non-Desaparecidos project, he formed the Mystic Valley Band. Surprisingly, he sings only nine of the 16 songs on the album, making it even more of a full-band effort than any Bright Eyes release.
The songs Conor doesn't sing are hit-and-miss, as three band members handle lead vocals on two songs each and bassist Macey Taylor singing one. Guitarist Nik Freitas' "Big Black Nothing" is a standout, but "Bloodline" is mediocre and lifeless. Another guitarist, Taylor Hollingsworth, tackles the clever electronic-tinged "Air Mattress" but also the pointless closer "Snake Hill."
However, both of drummer Jason Boesel's tracks ("Difference is Time" and "Eagle on a Pole") are excellent and add a different dimension to Outer South. Overall, the contributions of the members of the Mystic Valley Band have a positive effect on what would have otherwise been another Bright Eyes album (although there is nothing wrong with that.)
Oberst delivers the two best songs on the album, "Roosevelt Room" and "Nikorette" with all-out intensity. Just because Barack Obama is in the White House doesn't mean that Conor's lost his political fire, singing that "I'd like to write my Congressman, but I can't afford the stamp," and "the working poor you've been pissing on are doing double shifts tonight" in the raucous "Roosevelt Room," while a raw guitar riff punctuates the Dylan-esque rocker "Nikorette."
With the exception of the dull "Ten Women," Oberst's songs are solid. They lack some of the introspection of his material from the beginning of the decade, but clocking in at over 70 minutes, you will get at least 55 minutes of enjoyment in repeated listenings of Outer South.