In going with the typical Conor Oberst, this is music that makes you think. No, it doesn’t call for you to run in front of the oncoming subway train in a hasty fit of depression, as does his continuing work in Bright Eyes, but it sure makes me contemplate setting fire to the new city developments in protest of the mass industrialization of our country.
We all know the story…out goes mom and pop’s coffee shop, in comes thirteen Starbuck’s; out goes Sticky Fingers Records and in comes Tower – “you can buy my records down at the corporate chain. I tell myself I shouldn’t be ashamed but I am…” Our Conor feels it, too. It seems that his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska is serving as an under populated microcosm of overly urbanized society and he’s replaced his lo-fi acoustic metaphors with a well-used distortion petal in order to express his frustration.
Don’t underestimate this frustration, though; it doesn’t stop at the mass distribution of music – that’s just a small piece of it. From sarcastic commentary on the militant nature of America in “The Happiest Place on Earth” to bitterness against suburban love in “Man, Wife and the Former” the passionate and fiery idealism of Conor is well developed and impressive.