With his album Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (2002) Conor Oberst aka Bright Eyes was hailed as the new child prodigy of alternative rock. Three years after Lifted, Oberst comes with two albums at the same time. Digital Ash In A Digital Urn is the electronic CD on which Oberst starts working with samples and synthesizers, while he bets on I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
… pedal steel, mandolin and Emmylou Harris and comes so close to country . Oberst is clearly in his element on I'm Wide Awake, which sounds a lot lighter and less lo-fi than Lifted. Both the modest songs (Lua, Landlocked Blues) and the more exuberant ones (At The Bottom Of Everything, Another Travelin 'Song) immediately convince and the harmony vocals with Emmylou Harris in three songs are a golden opportunity. Conor Oberst doesn't need two albums to prove he's a talent, with only I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, this was already clear. (IV)more
