With their shape-shifting, collagelike arrangements, Bright Eyes’ instrumentalism often approximates some sort of sonic primordial ooze. “Hot Car in the Sun” is one of the saddest Bright Eyes songs in ages, because its sadness comes not from macabre imagination but from vivid banality. “Chopped celery and made the soup, didn’t have much else to do,” Oberst sings plaintively. “I was dreaming of my ex-wife’s face.” There is something wonderfully disarming about hearing the word “ex-wife” in a Bright Eyes song. Bright Eyes“Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was”(Dead Oceans)

Source: New York Times August 20, 2020 18:11 UTC