Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes Reveals Details for Next Batch of Companions Reissues
Bright Eyes has revealed details for its next batch of Companions catalog reissues, which will arrive Nov. 11 on Dead Oceans. The Companions editions of albums Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn all include EPs with six new recordings featuring guest performances by Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Becky Stark and Maria Taylor. Lifted includes a cover of “November” by Azure Ray, I’m Wide Awake boasts a version of “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel” by Townes Van Zandt and Digital Ash is appended with a take on “Agenda Suicide” by fellow Nebraska band The Faint. Also out today is one new contemporary re-record from each of the three EPs: “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will,” (originally from Lifted)...
Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst Walked Off Stage at Houston Show
At a Houston show over the weekend, Bright Eyes singer Conor Oberst abruptly left the stage after performing only two songs at White Oak Music Hall. Brooklyn Vegan reported that Oberst left the stage after two songs, “Dance And Sing” and “Lover I Don’t Have To Love.” Attendees of the Houston show took to Twitter to explain that the other lingering members of Bright Eyes invited fans to sing karaoke for a few songs until the venue officially canceled the show. As Oberst never returned to the stage, the venue refunded and emailed ticket buyers, “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Bright Eyes was unable to perform.” A representative for Oberst has not returned SPIN‘s request for comment. Bright Eyes are currently slated to perform tonight (May 23) at New Orleans’ Orpheum Theater. This is a disa...
Listen to Bright Eyes’ Cover of Elliott Smith’s 1995 ‘St. Ides Heaven’
Bright Eyes recently detailed their Companion series releases that will be released over the course of the year. Today, the band unveiled a cover from the collection, Elliott Smith’s “St. Ides Heaven.” [embedded content][embedded content] Released ahead of Bright Eyes’ first North American tour in 11 years, the cover hails from Smith’s 1995 self-titled sophomore album. The song will appear on Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion, which is the first of three EPs to be released by Bright Eyes on May 27 via Dead Oceans. Bright Eyes will kick off their massive stint tomorrow, March 23, in St. Paul Minnesota. The band will perform tracks off their latest record, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, and songs from across their discography. The Companion series project by Bright Eyes wi...
The 40 Best Emo Love Songs
While emo music might be most associated with sadness and heartbreak, those lovelorn artists couldn’t have written such songs without experiencing some serious romantic highs. Since it’s Valentine’s Day, we wanted to focus on the good parts of love more than the bad — although there’s still some unhappiness and resentment mixed in. (I mean, it is still emo after all.) SPIN’s writers spanned decades, waves and numerous albums looking for the top emo love songs, and now we’ve gathered them all here to save you the work. And yes, we know “emo” is just as broad a term as “love song” — you may also describe some of these acts as pop-punk or post-hardcore or even heart-on-sleeve indie-rock. But all of these bangers branch off the same family tree. From trailblazers like The Get Up Kids...
Bright Eyes Share Three Unreleased Songs, Announce 2022 Tour
A massive Bright Eyes project has been underway, and is finally coming to the surface throughout this year. Today, the band detailed the extensive reissuing of all nine of their studio records as a Companion series, which will see the release of 54 new recordings. The re-recording project will release via Dead Oceans, and it will include additional recordings created by Bright Eyes at their own ARC Studios in Omaha, Nebraska. Each reissue will be accompanied by a Companion EP of five new Bright Eyes recordings of tracks from the original release and one cover that felt of “the era” to the band while recording the original. Receiving the reissue treatment first are the band’s first three records—A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997 (1998), Letting Of...
Bright Eyes Announce 2022 Tour Dates
After hitting the road (for the first time in over a decade) in support of last year’s Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was this summer, Bright Eyes are heading back out on tour in March. The trio of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott just put out a baker’s dozen dates throughout the midwest, southeast, and east coast, ending in Virginia on April 10. While the spring tour happens to include Cassadaga‘s 15th birthday and no stops in New York or anywhere on the west coast, perhaps the rest of us can hold out hope for the unlikely event that Oberst and company will do something to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground in August. After all, they’re reissuing some of their catalog through Dead Oceans in 2022, so...
Michael Stipe, Billie Eilish, Foo Fighters and More Cosign New Planned Parenthood Voting Campaign
Following the speedy confirmation of Justice Amy Comey Barrett and fear of losing health care rights, Michael Stipe, Billie Eilish, Foo Fighters and other musicians have signed onto a new Planned Parenthood campaign to urge people to vote. Entitled “We Need Every Voice,” the full-page ad will appear in six newspapers at six key states: Arizona Republic, Detroit Free Press, Tampa Bay Times, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Austin American Statesman, and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “Everything is on the line with this election,” Alexis McGill Johnson, President, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. “Voters across the country understand that we need leaders who will fight to protect our rights and access to health care in every branch of government – that’s why tens of millions of Ame...
Bright Eyes Team With Phoebe Bridgers, Flea on ‘Miracle of Life’
After a nearly decade-long absence, Bright Eyes have returned not just with a new album, but today (Oct. 23), they’ve also released a new protest song to benefit Planned Parenthood. The song, titled “Miracle of Life,” is a blend of soothing keys and midtempo rhythm that cushion a lyrically descriptive look at a woman’s experience if places like Planned Parenthood didn’t exist. “Lay down on the hard cold ground / Crying’s such a soothing sound / Get cured with a coat hanger / Girl you’re in America now,” Conor Oberst sings on the chorus. Oberst explains the song’s importance below: “This song should not exist in 2020 America. It is a protest song, I guess. Or maybe just a little story about what was, what still is in many parts of the world and what could be again here in this country if th...
Bright Eyes Play Down in the Weeds Tracks for Remote Tiny Desk Concert
If you thought Tiny Desk Concerts would be impossible without all band members in the same room, you don’t know Bright Eyes very well. The indie rockers presented their own spin on NPR’s Tiny Desk (Home) Concert Monday, as they performed four tracks, “Mariana Trench,” “Pan and Broom,” “Persona Non Grata” and “Shell Games.” The first three, of course, come from the group’s new record Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, while the last derives from the group’s 2011 The People’s Key album. The 18-minute clip features Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis performing from ARC Studios in Omaha, and Nate Walcott joined by Becky Stark and their daughter in Los Angeles’ Lucy’s Meat Market. Despite the distance, the guys’ connection couldn’t be stronger as they share...
Bright Eyes Cover Thin Lizzy’s ‘Running Back’
Bright Eyes covered “Running Back,” a lesser-known tune by Irish classic rockers Thin Lizzy, on SiriusXM Sessions over the weekend, singer Conor Oberst paying close homage to the original. The appearance was in conjunction with several to promote Bright Eyes’ first album in nine years, Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was, released Aug.21. “Running Back,” written by late Thin Lizzy bassist and singer Phil Lynott, was on the group’s 1976 Jailbreak, the breakthrough album that featured the titular hit along with the perennial classic-rock-radio favorite “The Boys Are Back in Town.” A Thin Lizzy box set, Rock Legends, featuring unreleased tracks, demos, live sessions and a previously unreleased documentary film, arrives on Oct. 23. Bright Eyes performed th...
Bright Eyes Perform on CBS This Morning: Watch
On Friday, Bright Eyes released their first album in nine years, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, and on Saturday they celebrated the new collection of songs by performing a couple of them on CBS This Morning. The trio played two of the album’s early singles, “Persona Non Grata” and “Mariana Trench,” and was joined by bassist Anna Butterss, and the duo Lucius. Watch the performances below. The band recently spoke to SPIN about how Down in the Weeds seamlessly fits into the rest of Bright Eyes’ discography. “We wanted to make a record that reflected our past records and fit into our catalog, but we didn’t want it to be a time machine kind of thing,” Conor Oberst said. “We wanted to use certain touchstones from the past albums on the new album, like the orches...
Conor Oberst Reveals Why Trump Isn’t Mentioned on New Bright Eyes Album
Bright Eyes are gearing up to release their tenth studio album, Down in the Weeds Where the World Once Was, this summer. And while we’ve heard a few songs off the project already, there’s one topic we won’t be hearing about: Donald Trump. Though the band was praised for its 2005 protest song “When the President Talks to God,” which slammed President George W. Bush, Conor Oberst recently explained to the Times why he won’t be expressing his qualms with the current administration through music. “Trump is a different animal from Bush,” he said.“Bush had an ideology and the move to war was easy to protest. But comedians say it’s hard to satirize Trump because he’s the most ridiculous version of himself to start with, and I find the same with writing. How do you approach someone just ...
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