男巫Conor Oberst的solo果然呼之欲出，本来Bright Eyes也就是他一个人的乐队，这次感觉更是一种释放随心所欲的自由精神。而这次选择与the Mystic Valley Band的合作想必也是酝酿很久，因为早在去年他们就在墨西哥的一场演出中合作过，而团员Cher之前的新闻也让我欣喜很久，所以也就早早就盼着这张作品。果不其然，朴素清新的吉他声迎面扑来，还有那熟悉有力的嚼字声以及清晰可见的换气声，民谣风格始终是他作品的一贯规律，其实我倒是不怎么关注音乐本身是否会出现新的一股深层思想，对社会，对人，对物，Conor Oberst都有他自己的思想，而且也爱把他们用音乐唱出来。我也许只对音乐本身的节奏和旋律关注的更多。而Conor Oberst所编制出来那简单而不失华丽的味道又是那么的独特。 　　 　　Abandoning the Bright Eyes moniker he's been performing under since his teens, Conor Oberst reverted to his birth name for his 2008 follow-up to 2007's Cassadaga. As he not only released the record under his own name but titled it Conor Oberst, it's hard not to think of the album as a new beginning or statement of purpose, as that's generally the case when a singer/songwriter splits from his main band, but this is such a low-key record it can't support such grand theories. But that subdued attitude is in fact a major difference between this and Bright Eyes albums, where every action tended to be over-amplified, a practice Oberst generally avoids here. Part of it is down to mere circumstance. Struck with one of his bursts of wanderlust, Oberst headed down to Mexico to cut the album, gathering together a collection of friends who he dubbed the Mystic Valley Band, a name bearing an uncanny resemblance to such '70s country-rock outfits as Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band. Naturally, this is a conscious move, as much of this tight 12-track album resides firmly within the confines of classic country-rock, whether it's a mellow ramble like "Danny Callahan" or the dust-kicking "I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital)." These benefit greatly by the loose-limbed Mystic Valley Band, who infuse a great deal of warmth to this music, but their open-heartedness is a reflection of Oberst's subtle shift to relying on modest gestures instead of grand ones. Although he still has a tendency to shoehorn five-dollar words into every other phrase -- particularly when it comes time to write ballads -- he's not trying quite so hard here, letting his lyrics be almost as relaxed as his music. But the fact that the music does feel relaxed, even when it bears his classicist affectations, does make Conor Oberst markedly different than the music of Bright Eyes, and makes it a worthwhile project -- even if it proves to be a detour instead of a new beginning.