Audio By Carbonatix
With 2002’s Lifted, Omaha-born phenom Conor Oberst was elevated to mythical status among rock critics, lauded as a Dylan of the plains, the finest songwriter of his age. Although the reluctant messiah has tried to avoid the “voice of a generation” title he’s been saddled with, now, more than ever, the tag seems inescapable. And just as other young liberals blogged and MovedOn into this past November, Oberst toured with Springsteen on the Vote for Change tour. In the wake of the generation for change’s defeat, Oberst presents his finest work to date on two new, inspired albums — songs for the other 48 percenters, if you will.
I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning is an instant folk classic. Deftly recalling the freewheeling tone of Lifted, Oberst transplants lyrics of heartland angst to the sidewalks of New York. Gone are his signature desperate yowls, and in their stead a more subdued voice emerges — older, supposedly wiser, yet threatening to crack at any second, volatile like the calm before a storm.
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is Oberst’s attempt at an electronic album that has fans dancing first, obsessively dissecting lyrics second. And though not as consistent as Wide Awake, there are more hits than misses. Digital Ash wanders playfully between Radiohead, the Postal Service and the Cure, at times to incredible effect, as on the closing “Easy/Lucky/Free” and “I Believe in Symmetry,” a song that swells into a siren of guitars that is both heartbreaking and triumphant, easily the best moment on the album.
Oberst’s lyrics are as strangely poetic as ever: laments on alcoholism, anxiety, doomed relationships, death and loneliness. Throughout the recording, pronouns are used interchangeably, “I’s” mixed with “you’s,” “he’s” and “she’s.” It’s clear these are not just his feelings, but those of everyone he knows. Oberst may not like his status as the voice of his generation, but on these two albums, he’s all but cemented it.
