Given that Conor Oberst is well into his twenties, we can no longer call him the young kid with the big vocabulary and bigger heart. Indeed, ‘Four Winds’ is a sure sign of musical maturity; a straightforward, linear countrified piece of music complete with fiddles, slide guitar and entirely audible lyrics.
Audible but not particularly discernable, ‘Four Winds’ is full of references to the Bible, the Qur’an and the Torah, whilst directly alluding to the book of Ezekiel, Neil Young and W.B. Yeats. Seemingly a partially autobiographical song full of religious weariness in a new world order, it doesn’t actually matter a great deal; ‘Four Winds’ is simply a beautiful, woozy ballad and a fine advertisement for the forthcoming Cassadaga LP.
I love this song
a bit too much. I have listened to it four times in the past hour.
it's
great, as are the rest of the songs on the disc, whetting my appetite all the more for thenew album :)
Hmmm...
Am I the only Bright Eyes fan hugely disappointed by this single? Yes, he's being very clever with his lyrics (as is always the case), but the vocal line is borderline insipid and that violin just grates me oh-so-much.
no
well. sort of
i LOVE Four Winds. as others have said, it's lyrically brilliant, and i adore the vocal melody.
i'm more dissapointed with the bsides.
of the original 5 bsides, i find two of them massively irritating (Smoke without fire and stay dog freedom), and one leaves me feeling a bit cold (reinvent the wheel). not up to his usual standard!
Mmm
I'm not blown away by 'Four Winds', to be honest - it's solid rather than loin-girdingly exciting. I remember how the 'There Is No Beginning To The Story' EP got me all aquiver in anticipation of 'Lifted...', and I'm just not getting that from 'Four Winds'. Mind you, I've not heard the B-sides yet - think my copy of the EP has got lost in the post. I guess it's a matter of taste, and for me, Conor's moving ever further away from the Bright Eyes that I love. It was damn hard to fault 'I'm Wide Awake...', but it's probably the Bright Eyes album I treasure least.
Violin line =
'SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!'
hm
no, I need more convincing, maybe a few more listens!
Then I see why
you don't particularly like this latest single. I thought 'I'm wide awake' was quite excellent and in my opinion this single and also the rest of 'Cassadaga' are comparable to that sound.
Conor has in my view 2 different styles and if 'I'm wide awake' is not your thing, 'Cassadaga' is not going to be yours either.
The Thrills
Someone told me this sounds like the fucking Thrills. I can't get them out of my head when I hear it now. Bastard.