Some acts hold a special place in you heart for the sake of nostalgia and nostalgia alone. You grow up and grow out of the music, but can always come back for a short stint every now and then for a reminder of what life was like at a different time. Bright Eyes is not one of those bands. While the nostalgia remains without a doubt, their music is more evergreen. This is especially true for their first album in nine years, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.
Starting off in typical Bright Eyes fashion, the opening track, “Pageturners Rag”, creates the atmosphere and the world for the album. This has always been one of my favorite Bright Eyes devices. It turns the act of listening to the album in it’s full, intentional order, more significant, more powerful, more dramatic. “Pageturners Rag” puts us in what I can only imagine is a velvet-rich, dimly lit room with a small stage at the front and center. Almost like you’re at the McKittrick Hotel watching a vaudeville style show. We hear the emcees heels click-clack back and forth. As the music begins, you can hear the whispers and wonderings of everyone around you. Slowly, you drift away from the nightclub and into a new world. A more private one, reminiscent of the parlor in the Knives Out mansion. You’re hearing the family stories and secrets. Things start to turn a little dark before suddenly and without any notice, you’re back at the nightclub once again.
The album proceeds from there are it usually does — stumbling into “Dance and Sing”. Conor Oberst has an incredibly distinctive voice and style that’s apparent throughout the record, but the additional orchestration of the record elevates and transforms that style. While I enjoy the somewhat grating quality of Oberst’s vocals, they’re softened by this addition — perhaps making Bright Eyes slightly more palatable to those who’ve previously were turned off. That orchestration heightens the drama of these tracks. On the chorus of “Stairwell Song” it even references “cinematic endings” as a transition from what feels like a race to a resolution musically.
There’s religious imagery, talk of God, New York, love, loss, and life’s imperfections. Everything you would expect from a Bright Eyes record. This return after not only their hiatus as a band, but also after a slew of releases that I personally did not find as compelling as their early 2000s work, is deeply rooted in what made Bright Eyes such a prolific band in the first place. While there are some small diversions with more contemporary driven tracks like “Mariana Trench”, this album could exist in 2006 as well as it does in 2020, Oberst’s life experiences and collaborative growth aside. There are even call backs to their most popular and iconic work within the tracks. “One and Done” references Fevers and Mirrors before erupting in a spiraling, dramatic, orchestral deluge.
I’ll personally always hold the opinion that it’s aways a good time to listen to a Bright Eyes record, but if you needed something new to wallow with, to create dark and beautiful delusions in your mind to, or take you back to your angsty youth, there couldn’t be a more perfect time or record to do so with. Long live Bright Eyes. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to see them doing this album live come 2021.