Singer / songwriter Conor Oberst aka Bright Eyes caused a sensation in 2002 with the album Lifted Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground (2002). Then in 2005 he made it difficult for his newly acquired fans with a diptych; the electronically oriented Digital Ash In A Digital Urn and the more country-tinted I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. Cassadaga is the undisputed successor to that
… last album. With dominant acoustic guitars and a scratching violin, the songs on Cassadaga move into country and folk spheres. But Oberst is by no means a traditionalist and on Cassadaga (named after a town in Florida where people with paranormal abilities find each other) mainly creates his own, almost epic sound as the backdrop for his narrative songs with long lyrics full of dark and mystical images. More than ever, Bright Eyes shows himself to be an original artist on this fascinating piece of work, which requires many (grateful) spins to be fathomed. (MR)more
