Bright Eyes – Five Dice, All Threes (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 51:00 minutes | 1009 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dead Oceans
Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before. Oberst has always sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At times throughout Five Dice, All Threes, you may feel worried for him; other times, he may seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess. As per usual, the music comes loaded with subtext that invites deep listening—the signature touch of a band who has always honored the album as its own exalted work of art. In the game of threes, the titular move would indicate a perfect roll. Perfection, however, means something different in the world of Bright Eyes, where our flaws are what grants us authority and finding meaning is only possible if we bear witness to the dark, winding journey to get there. On Five Dice, All Threes, Bright Eyes embrace these beliefs with music that feels thrillingly alive, as if we were all in the room with them, shouting along and gaining the strength to move forward together. It doesn’t just sound like classic Bright Eyes. It sounds like their future, too.
At 44, former boy wonder Conor Oberst seems in mid-life contemplation on Bright Eyes’ latest album—the 11th since he founded the band as a teen in Omaha. “I never thought I’d see 45/ How is it that I’m still alive?” he sings on “Bas Jan Ader,” reveling in classic Bright Eyes elements: jaunty piano and banjo, wistful steel guitar, the happy barroom feel of a group singalong. “When you look into my eyes/ do you see a scarry night?” Oberst asks, word-playful as ever, revising bad memories into “some nostalgia you just can’t ignore.” There’s a loose theme here of aging and nostalgia, with certain totems on repeat, including the titular game of dice—as if the band is looking for a good-luck roll. There’s also a push-pull of worrying about the world and saying live it up while you can. Oberst cuts loose on “Rainbow Overpass,” a punk-folk jig that sounds like a party: The So So Glos’ Alex Orange Drink takes a verse and Oberst’s ex-wife Corina Figueroa Escamilla adds yelping background vocals; both Dawes’ Griffin Goldsmith and Rilo Kiley’s Jason Boesel are credited for drums; and band member Nathaniel Wolcott adds great, Steve Nieve-esque keys. “I’m not slowing down/ I’m speeding up/ You won’t see my brake lights flash on that rainbow overpass/ I’ll see you around!” the crowd hollers, a seeming middle finger to death. “The world is on fire/ California is a crucible/ We’re running out of water/ They already stole all the gold …” Oberst sings (laments? warns?) on “El Capitan,” drums thundering over subdued piano. “You said I’m washed up/ And that’s what I get for growing old.”
Inevitably, Oberst does sound different from the youthful brightness of, say, 2007’s great Cassadega. There’s a ragged glory, an occasional crack when he sings the winning “Bells and Whistles,” a gang’s-all-here number that bobs like a TV commercial, caffeinated on whistling and punch-drunk horns. There’s also, throughout, the old sound of stations being changed on an analog TV, easy shorthand for pre-21st century nostalgia. Stark, lovely “Tiny Suicides” tunes into a bit of sobbing, while retro dialogue feeds a glitched-out portion of swaying chanty “Spun Out,” Oberst sigh-singing “I’m out to pasture.” The National’s Matt Berninger, nearly a decade older than Oberst, sounds like the ghost of Christmas future on mournful piano ballad “The Time I Have Left.” And Cat Power helps usher in a surprising new wave for Bright Eyes with “All Threes”—darker, sexier than anything they’ve done before. She shadows Oberst in a duet, each doing a bit of their own thing, as drums crack like a whip and the piano takes a jazz turn. Across the board, there are warnings about puritans, prophets and L.A. shamans, and namechecks of Nabokov and Twain, Jesus and Elon Musk, Scorsese and Sinatra. The band may be thinking about getting older, but they sound as alive as ever—not unlike Before the Flood-era Dylan with The Band. – Shelly Ridenour
Tracklist:
1-1. Bright Eyes – Five Dice (01:39)
1-2. Bright Eyes – Bells and Whistles (04:07)
1-3. Bright Eyes – El Capitan (03:54)
1-4. Bright Eyes – Bas Jan Ader (03:54)
1-5. Bright Eyes – Tiny Suicides (04:44)
1-6. Bright Eyes – All Threes (05:24)
1-7. Bright Eyes – Rainbow Overpass (03:01)
1-8. Bright Eyes – Hate (04:52)
1-9. Bright Eyes – Real Feel 105° (03:25)
1-10. Bright Eyes – Spun Out (03:36)
1-11. Bright Eyes – Trains Still Run on Time (03:47)
1-12. Bright Eyes – The Time I Have Left (03:32)
1-13. Bright Eyes – Tin Soldier Boy (04:59)
