With a new album

Bright Eyes follow up their great classics

Order in the sonic chaos: Bright Eyes are still a force to be reckoned with.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Dead Oceans, Nik Freitas)

Anyone who saw Conor Oberst at his last guest appearance with Bright Eyes in Vienna two years ago must have been worried: The musician was staggering, spilling beer over instruments and musing about dying. However, the former indie prodigy hit the right notes with the songs. Perhaps the 44-year-old is feeling better now, as the new album "Five Dice, All Threes" by Bright Eyes at least musically suggests.

The lyrics don't necessarily spread a good mood, and you wouldn't expect this band to be exclusively cheerful. But the fact that "Five Dice, All Threes" could perhaps be described as the "fun album in the Bright Eyes catalog", as the label's press release puts it, cannot be denied due to the infectious hooks. The folk-country-rock on offer, which may also have jazz and brass sprinkles in between, sometimes sounding like garage, then thoughtful again, follows on from the formation's classics. "I'd say this record picks up on the spirit of our older work," says Nate Walcott, keyboardist and arranger at Oberst's side.

Indie rock dice game
The singer's voice sounds wonderful and anything but affected by substances, giving the songs a unique blend of melancholy, sadness and yet also power. Once again, band member and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis produced the album. "It took us 20 years to record another album that sounds like a band playing live," he says. In an interview with "Musikexpress", Oberst said of the album title, alluding to a game of dice: "Life is a game of chance. We all hope that something good comes out of it."

"Five Dice, All Threes" features finely staged guest appearances from long-time friends such as Cat Power, Matt Berninger (The National) and Alex Orange Drink (The So So Glos). When they went into the studio, Bright Eyes opted for a "fast-paced approach", as the band put it, "inspired by influences such as The Replacements and Frank Black". The result was audibly good: "Five Dice, All Threes" sounds like a classic Bright Eyes album - without any compromises.

Collector's editions on vinyl
The double LP comes in a spot gloss cover with etching on the fourth side. As an alternative for record collectors, a colored vinyl pressing on red-orange splatter vinyl is offered in a limited edition.

APA/Wolfgang Hauptmann