Cardinal Points

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Fuse

The first single off of the latest Bright Eyes effort, "Cassadaga", is the song "Four Winds", in which Conor Oberst nearly explains all of his travels and lets the listener travel with him.

Forgetting the lyrics for a moment, the song itself sounds like an old country song, thanks to the violin and the acoustic guitar solos that follow the dynamic of a western film.

The one thing that should be pointed out about every song is the instrumentation.

There is a large array of instrumentation in songs such as "Hot Knives" where it sounds as if there is a full orchestra backing up the band. What you are hearing is Mike Mogis, who plays the majority of the instruments, and Nate Walcott, who has played trumpet and the ever-present piano with Bright Eyes since 2003.

Another gem that can be found on the album is the song "Make a Plan to Love Me", a lovely ballad where Oberst really does wear his heart on his sleeve.

The lyrics almost sound as though Oberst is begging his mistress to love him with lyrics that state, "Make a plan to love me, sometime soon."

Another aspect of this song that is genius is the female vocals that back up Oberst.

They compliment each other so well that it makes the song as beautiful as the lyrics and music itself.

"Cassadaga" seems to attract a family of musicians with the likes of Ben Kweller, Janet Weiss of Sleater Kinney, and Jason Boesel of Rilo Kiley.

The Indie artist has done his family well - Saddle Creek's own co-founder Oberst has created a masterpiece.

four stars out of five

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