Country-folk-rock's hottest talent Conor Oberst and his band Bright Eyes rolled through a cracking set taken entirely from their latest album, Cassadaga and the accompanying Four Winds EP.

Hailing from Nebraska, Conor, at 27, is already an old hand, having been playing and recording since his early teens. Both precocious and prolific, Oberst's output of songs, from Commander Venus, Desparecidos and under the Bright Eyes moniker have garnered him equal praise and criticism (for clever-clever lyrics, audacious talent or dating certain Hollywood starlets perhaps?)

When, in 2005, Bright Eyes released 2 albums on the same day, the lo-fi alt-country I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and the more experimentally electronic Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, the band, and Conor in particular, began to get more international attention, both critically and commercially. Already a huge hit in their native US, Bright Eyes scored two singles at no.1 and no.2 in the Billboard charts simulatneously (no mean feat for a low-key band on an independent label).

Back at the session, it's beers all round, and gentle horse-play throughout, the camaraderie apparent in the performances from the talented team of musicians, including long-time Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis, Nate Walcott on horns and keyboards and a fiddle. When Oberst's friend and fellow singer-songwriter, M Ward joins the band for Soul Singer and Smoke Without Fire, his huskily mellow vocals are the perfect complement to the Bright Eyes' sound. Oberst describes Ward's voice as "audio Xanax", and a relaxed session becomes even more so with this additon to the mix.

Both Rachel on drums and Anton (fiddle) profess their love of Bright Eyes' "organic" quality, their use of varied instrumentation and truth to its roots (the band is still signed to Oberst's own label, Saddle Creek Records). Conor jokes "I tried the hip-hop thing for a few years and then switched over to folk because it just wasn't biting" before launching into an impromptu AOL-inspired rap.

Oberst credits the careers of Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young as inspirations (and he's played live with both already). He jokes he wants "to please everyone, if possible. And impress them. And tuck them in at night, and marry their sister, too." Having been going for over 15 years already, it looks like Oberst's folk-country-rock amalgam may well echo the longevity of these legends, and please a few people too, along the way.

- Download Bright Eyes with iTunes
- Find out more about Bright Eyes
- Visit their official website
- Search: Bright Eyes

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