The first single off Cassadaga is a pretty logical extension of where Conor Oberst left off with I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The countrified aesthetic of that album is full-blown here as Oberst goes all honky tonk on us with generous use of a steel guitar and fiddle. His views on the state of the world haven'''t brightened any either, only this time he'''s gone biblical and broken out the doomsday speak: ''"A squatter'''s made a mural of a Mexican girl/ with fifteen cans of spray paint and a chemical swirl. She'''s standing in the ashes at the end of the world/ four winds blowing through her hair.''"
What has changed, at least for this song, is there'''s no sign of Oberst trying to cram the multi-syllabics in where they don'''t belong. If Oberst can keep his thesaurus in his pocket this time out, we may be in for the most enjoyable Bright Eyes album yet.