April 6, 2007 | Posted by David B. at 10:26 AM

She's standing in the ashes at the end of the world

bright eyes

I wasn't crazy about Bright Eyes' recent Four Winds EP - I thought it was musically all over the place, and lyrically lousy. But I'm pretty happy with Cassadaga, which holds together really well, and features some of Conor Oberst's best writing. It's no I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, but I also don't think he'll top that anytime soon.

Bright Eyes - Four Winds.

This was also the title track to the EP he released a couple months ago, and it was its best song. Other than the lyrics problem, I can't quite pinpoint what made the Four Winds EP so inferior to this record. I just know that Cassadaga, at least on my first couple listens, is good work from an ever-improving artist. We'll see how the record sounds after many plays, but I'm guessing it'll age well.
The CD features M. Ward, Maria Taylor, Rachael Yamagata, Sleater-Kinney's Janet Weiss, and all sorts of other guest players.

You can pick up Cassadaga anywhere next Tuesday, but why not get it directly from Saddle Creek?

Comments

I feel the same way regarding the contrast between the EP and the album, I'm not sure why either but nothing on the EP really caught my ear, while the album is much better. Though they seem to have the same overall sound. I guess there's a reason why only Four Winds ended up on the album.

Posted by: Designate at April 11, 2007 8:12 AM
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