![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/brighteyes_.jpg\" "\\"brighteyes_\\"")
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Bright Eyes:\u00a0 you either love ’em or hate ’em.\u00a0 There don’t seem to be any inbetweeners.\u00a0 For those of us that love ’em, exciting times are upon us.\u00a0 The band (consisting of permanent members Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott), is set to release its seventh proper record, “The People\u2019s Key,” on February 15th on Saddle Creek.\u00a0 The band will begin a tour in support of the new record that will bring them to the Fox Theaters in Pomona and Oakland in mid-April. We highly recommend you attend.\u00a0 We’ve seen the band live at the Arlington and at the Santa Barbara Bowl (a magical night in the mist), and caught Oberst and Mogis in Mothers of Folk at the Granada (the best show of 2009).\u00a0 And of course we’ve caught Conor in his various solo-esque permutations in LA and Santa Barbara (most recently in October at Soho).\u00a0 We have never been disappointed by any of these shows.\u00a0 Oberst doesn’t hide his humanity on record or live, which galls many, but we appreciate his unceasingly passionate delivery and art.<\/p>\n
This is Bright Eyes’ first record since 2007\u2019s “Cassadaga” and, after a few listens, the “time off” (Oberst never seems to take time off from writing and touring) seems to have served them well and enabled them to venture out and improve upon Cassadaga.\u00a0\u00a0 The new record has new sound textures and influences (added to the usual strong melodies and delivery), and Oberst seems lyrically older and wiser, focusing on larger concerns (omnipotent love, spirituality, the cosmos, etc.).\u00a0 As usual, his lyrics are amongst the best in indie rock.<\/p>\n
Prior to the record’s release you can listen to the record in its entirety at NPR<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 And you can download two songs from the record at Saddle Creek<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n Below is “The Peoples’ Key” track list, two new songs from the record, Shell Games<\/em> and Haile Selassie<\/em>, and a short video on the physical making of the new record (might have to get us one of those red vinyl versions!).<\/p>\n Track list for “The People\u2019s Key”:<\/p>\n 1 Firewall Additional Bright Eyes players on The People\u2019s Key: Andy LeMaster, (Now It\u2019s Overhead), Matt Maginn (Cursive), Carla Azar (Autolux), Clark Baechle (The Faint), Shane Aspegren (The Berg Sans Nipple), Laura Burhenn (The Mynabirds) and Denny Brewer (Refried Ice Cream).<\/p>\n Bright Eyes–Shell Game<\/strong><\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/02-Shell-Games.mp3|titles=02 Shell Games] “Took the fireworks and the vanity If I could change my mind, change the paradigm But hear it come, that heavy love I was dressed in white, touched by something pure At the architect who imagined this But hear it come, that heavy love No, I don’t want to play Distorted sounds on oscilloscopes We’ll be everything that we ever needed Hear it come, that heavy love I’m never going to move it alone.”<\/p>\n Bright Eyes—<\/em>Haile Selassie<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n We’ll have to give this one a few more listens to attempt to gain the meaning of the song and make the connection to Selassie (the Ethiopian Emperor who Rastafarian Jamaicans believe, despite Selassie’s protestations to the contrary, to be a new Messiah–as we have said before:\u00a0 Haile Unlikely!!).\u00a0 We hear the “one drop” reference to reggae’s bottom line and the “bubbling” of the Jamaican music.\u00a0 We may end up just deciding to focus solely on the lines “One Love!”, but it’s a compelling song.<\/p>\n [audio:https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/05-Haile-Selassie.mp3|titles=05 Haile Selassie] “Pilgrim across the water Pilgrim beside the fire I’ve seen stranger things, man Pilgrim upon the mountain I’ve seen stranger things, man I’ve seen stranger things, man
\n2 Shell Games
\n3 Jejune Stars
\n4 Approximate Sunlight
\n5 Haile Selassie
\n6 A Machine Spiritual (In The People\u2019s Key)
\n7 Triple Spiral
\n8 Beginner\u2019s Mind
\n9 Ladder Song
\n10 One For You, One For Me<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe circuit board and the city streets
\nShooting star, swaying palm tree
\nLaid it at the arbiter’s feet<\/p>\n
\nPrepare myself for another life
\nForgive myself for the many times
\nI was cruel to something helpless and weak<\/p>\n
\nI’m never going to move it alone
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nTag it on a tenement wall
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nSomeone got to share in the load
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nI’m never going to move it alone<\/p>\n
\nDeath obsessed like a teenager
\nSold my tortured youth, piss and vinegar
\nI’m still angry with no reason to be<\/p>\n
\nFor the everyman, blessed Sisyphus
\nSlipping steadily into madness
\nNow that’s the only place to be free<\/p>\n
\nYou’re never going to move it alone
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nTattooed on a criminal’s arm
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nSomeone got to share in the load
\nHere it come, that heavy love
\nYou’re never going to move it alone<\/p>\n
\nIt’s a shell game, it’s a shell game<\/p>\n
\nDistorted facts, I could never cope
\nMy private life is an inside joke
\nNo one will explain it to me<\/p>\n
\nEveryone, on the count of three!
\nEveryone, on the count of three!
\nAll together now!<\/p>\n
\nWe’re never going to move it alone
\nHear it come, that heavy love
\nPlaying as the cylinder rose
\nHear it come, that heavy love
\nI only want to share in the load
\nHear it come, that heavy love<\/p>\n
\n<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
\nWe are the same, brother
\nHitchhiking back to Zion
\nHolding our tears as we flip the album
\nWhat if this leads to ruin?
\nYou got a soul, use it
\nAll this despair forgiven
\nRolling away on a wheel of sevens
\nSeems like the Queen of Sheba
\nVoice through a blown speaker
\nOne drop and bubbling Leslie
\nCalling me home like Haile Selassie<\/p>\n
\nIts been a long winter
\nWe got a lot in common
\nCover our heads as they split the atom
\nAll of our days are numbered
\nI take in some comfort in knowing the wave has crested
\nKnowing I don\u2019t have to be an exception
\nChildren they fill the bleachers
\nOne is the next Caesar
\nKeep all their minds collected
\nUntil it comes
\nUntil it comes
\nHide the Omega day
\nIn plain sight
\nToo good to be true<\/p>\n
\nI’ve seen that tree of smoke
\nYeah I’ve seen stranger things happen,
\nHappen before<\/p>\n
\nBare foot and still climbing
\nFilling the book of hours
\nDay after day in the filth and squalor
\nWe are the chosen people
\nSafe from the next evil
\nOne Love! Magnetic memory
\nReel after reel, spinning within me
\nI had the wildest dream last night
\nI was swimming with you in that cenote the Heavens made with black fire
\nJust woke up too soon<\/p>\n
\nI’ve seen that tree of smoke
\nYeah, I’ve seen stranger things happen,
\nHappen before<\/p>\n
\nI’ve seen that tree of smoke
\nYeah, I’ve seen stranger things happen,
\nHappen before”<\/p>\n