sleepy jack

Previous reviews here
Fevers and Mirrors
Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Four Winds EP

Bright Eyes "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning"



Label: Saddle Creek Records
Release Date: January 25, 2005
Genre: Singer-Songwriter/Folk/Indie
Tracklist:
1. At the Bottom of Everything
2. We Are Nowhere and It's Now
3. Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)
4. Lua
5. Train Under Water
6. First Day of My Life
7. Another Travelin' Song
8. Landlocked Blues
9. Poison Oak
10. Road to Joy

The Album begins with “At The Bottom Of Everything” which starts out with a spoken word introduction about a plane crashing then fades into an upbeat countryish guitar part and then Conor starts singing about a bunch of things, you can read the lyrics to see it. He probably came up and thought about this on the plane ride to new york which is what most of the albums about. Jim James sings on this.

“We Are Nowhere and Its Now” is more slowed down then At The bottom Of Everything, with Emmylou Harris singing along with him. This one talks at first about probably some things Conors been thinking about, in a lot of his songs you and I are interchangeable. Example “If you hate the taste of wine” could be “If I hate the taste of wine”. Then he talks about going to a bar, and talks about a Yellow Bird which is most likely a Simon Joyner reference, but I’ve heard it used elsewhere.

“Old Soul Song (For the New World Order)” also features Emmylou Harris. The song is also a slower one. It talks about waking up and then walking into a riot basically, then walking home from it and developing the photos and wraps it up with the line “And just when I get so lonesome I cant speak I see some flowers on the hillside like the war on your TVs, yeah they go wild.”

“Lua” is probably the most slow song on the album, its just Conor singing and playing an acoustic guitar. His vocal work his beautiful on this especially on lines like, “I know you have a heavy heart; I can feel it when we kiss so many men much stronger than me have thrown their backs out trying to lift it”. The song basically talks about doing something and then regretting it the morning later and lists various experiences and examples.

After that is “Train Under Water” which his probably one of my favorite on the albums, and has some of my favorite lyrics ever. “You were born inside of a raindrop I watched you falling to your death and the sun, well it could not save you.” Its sort of slowed down, but begins to pick up after the first chorus.

Followed by that is “First Day Of My Life” which is one of my favorite Bright Eye’s songs as well as my favorite on the album. It basically talks about falling love, and its executed perfectly.

Next is “Another Travelin’ Song” which is one of the faster songs on the album. The title basically sums up what its about. Its probably the most country sounding song on the album.

After that is “Landlocked Blues” which also features Emmylou Harris. It’s a slowed down song also, similar to We Are Nowhere and Its Now. This song is mostly about the Iraq War and Conor thinks its unnecessary. "There are kids playing guns in the street and one's pointing his tree branch at me, so I threw my hands up, I said enough is enough, if you walk away, I'll walk away, then he shot me dead."

Next is “Poison Oak”, it’s a slower song and Conors brain is fucked up so I have no idea what most of this is about, however the final line, is about Conor becoming happy when he plays music. "And when I press the keys it all gets reversed, the sound of loneliness makes me happier."

The final song is “Road To Joy” which kind of reminds me of Lets Not Shit Ourselves because it talks about a bunch of different things. Musically its similar to Ode To Joy.

This album is for the most part feelings and experiences Conors had when he first moved to New York as well as other things. It’s a solid album, and definitely worth checking out. Its his most country/folk sounding album probably.

Recommended Tracks: First Day Of My Life, Poison Oak, Road To Joy, Train Under Water, Land Locked Blues, Lua
Album Rating: 6.5/10
Download link: hxxp://www.megaupload.com/?d=IDOHNF51

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Laces Out Dan!

Woo, My favourite non Mars Volta album.
Awesome Review, Good analysis.

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capybara

Next is “Poison Oak”, it’s a slower song and Conors brain is ucked up so I have no idea what most of this is about, however the final line, is about Conor becoming happy when he plays music. "And when I press the keys it all gets reversed, the sound of loneliness makes me happier."

becoming happy when he plays music? did you even listen to the words?. the line is "the sound of loneliness makes me happier". do you really think this about music here? no. this is his art so there is no true way of deciphering completely, but i feel as though the line goes a little deeper than that. "i'm glad you got away, but i'm still stuck out here" to coincide with "the sound of loneliness makes me happier". the pain he's feeling is what is making him feel better. not the music, not anything. he's glad she got away, he's glad he's stuck in this hell, its a completely true and painful song and this review is short of what it portrays. or at least short of how beautiful it is. I'm not saying i did any justice in writing this, because i can't, the whole idea of a music review discussion is sort of unnerving to me, anyway. why do we need to figure this **** out anyway? its art, it either moves you, or it doesn't, and trying to figure out what connor is even trying to say is undoubtedly pointless. ever write a poem, and read it and it didn't make much sense but it made you feel what you wanted to feel?

nevermind. this is pointless. and i am the pot calling the kettle black.
happy listening.

sleepy jack

Um for one the song is about his cousin not a girl, he's said so himself and it's pretty clear that line has to do with music. "Now I'm drunk as hell on the piano bench, and when I press the keys..." The whole song is essentially an "I miss you" to his cousin and let me break this down for you: when you miss someone you're lonely, when you play music you're express yourself and it's obvious hes expressing his lonely/longing in this song and that sound makes him "happier." I assumed it didn't have much to do with the I'm really glad that you got away bit since that came several verses earlier. This is a music forum, a music forum for music discussion, if you want to bitch about how we can't discuss art do it somewhere else.

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capybara

sorry i wasn't trying to offend anyone. i dont understand why everyone in forums are so damn defensive. i wasn't knocking the forum, i'm jsut saying.

sorry.

simplephysics

I've been listening to this album all day, and have decided Emmylou Harris did nothing good for this album. The version of Land Locked Blues without her is about 10 times better..

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sleepy jack

I think he added her for country credibility. Which is a shame because he's connected to vocalists who are way better than she is, Jenny Lewis for instance.

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simplephysics

I agree, I just can't get around Emmylou's voice. It sounds forced and shakier than his is, but nowhere near as easy to listen to.

I have to admit I like that he colaborated with Rachael Yamagata for Cassadaga, the songs they did together were probably the least credible on the album, but they pulled the vocals off nicely.

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ProggyMan

Uh, I think it makes the album. It's his blandest musically.

Laces Out Dan!

Its probably my favourite musically.

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