Conor Oberst preview

Conor Oberst
Vic Theatre, Chicago
Friday, October 31, 2008
Saturday, November 1, 2008

Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes have been synonymous since the former stopped releasing solo albums in his mid-teens. Now a grizzled 28-year-old, Oberst closets the band name and reveals the two aren’t as conveniently entwined as shorthand might hope.

What’s plain on his self-titled, Merge Records debut is he’s still given to flights of romantic whimsy. For the project, he and a rabble called The Mystic Valley Band (Nik Freitas, Nate Walcott, Macey Taylor, Taylor Hollingsworth, Andy LeMaster) holed up on the ancient Aztec grounds of Tepoztlán, Mexico and wrote a rather keen track on nomadism (“Moab”). But removed from longtime collaborator Mike Mogis’ vision, Oberst’s country/emo hybrid inches closer to rock ‘n’ roll than ever. The Mystic Valley, so named for the Valle Mistico where they recorded, have a professional tone that sunders Bright Eyes’ grad-school charm, and the album’s better for it. Stranger still, out of Bright Eyes’ “band” environs, Mr. Confessional turns in his least confessional-sounding set, weaving stories about wasting away (“I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital)”) and missing children (“Danny Callahan”).

Matt Focht Band and All Smiles open.

— Steve Forstneger

Click here to stream Conor Oberst.

Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly