Bright Eyes - Five Dice, All Threes - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness,communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualitiesthat fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades intotheir career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and NateWalcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements each unique in it'ssound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growingemotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songsexude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before. Oberst hasalways sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At timesthroughout Five Dice, All Threes, you may feel worried for him; other times, hemay seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess.On the self-produced album, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality thathas made them so enduring and influential across generations and genres,bringing their homespun sound from an Omaha bedroom to devotedaudiences around the world. In Oberst's songwriting lies a promise that ourloneliest thoughts and feelings can take on grander shapes when passedbetween friends, blasted through speakers, or shouted among crowds. Thistime around, the band invites such like-minded voices onto the record withthem, with notable guest appearances from Cat Power (InchAll ThreesInch), TheNational's Matt Berninger (InchThe Time I Have LeftInch), and Alex Levine, thefrontman of the New York punk band The So So Glos, who co-wrote severalsongs and shares a climactic verse in the surging InchRainbow Overpass.InchWhen they hit the studio with Oberst's longtime bandmates-the multiinstrumentalist and producer Mike Mogis, the keyboardist and arranger NateWalcott-they opted for a fast-paced approach that drew inspiration fromformative influences like The Replacements and Frank Black. They soughttextures t