William Dart takes a look at new albums by Drab City and Bright Eyes, both with distinctive opening tracks.
Photo: Bella Union, Dead Oceans
Creating an a propos ambience for their debut album Good Songs for Bad People, Drab City has come up with a minute and a half of wayward, woozy overture.
As such, it certainly sets the mood for the nine tracks that follow – slices of music that find their own strange beauty in a world that sometimes seems to be locked into a 21st century horror movie.
But these gleaming soundtracks don’t go in for cheap scare tactics. The Drab City duo (Chris Dexter Greenspan and Asia) epitomises the dispassionate observer and, because of this, what they come up with does touch the heart.
And for Bright Eyes' new release, Down in the Weeds where the World Once Was, songwriter Conor Oberst – always with a thing about how he launches his albums – has come up with his most eccentric prelude yet.
Here too, the mood is largely on the dark side. Oberst lifts it with his attention to the arrangements, including one song with an orchestral playout providing a splash of sumptuousness that's pure Hollywood.
Music Details
'Song title' (Composer) – Performers
Album title
(Label)
'Overture to Tommy' (Townshend) – The Who
Tommy
(MCA)
'Entering Drab City' (Drab City) – Drab City
Good Songs For Bad People
(Bella Union)
'Hand on My Pocket' (Drab City) – Drab City
Good Songs For Bad People
(Bella Union)
'Live Free & Die When It's Cool' (Drab City) – Drab City
Good Songs For Bad People
(Bella Union)
'Just Me & You' (Drab City) – Drab City
Good Songs For Bad People
(Bella Union)
'Away In a Manger' (Trad arr Oberst) – Bright Eyes
A Christmas Album
(Saddle Creek)
'Pageturners Rag' (Oberst) – Bright Eyes
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
(Dead Oceans)
'Hot Car in the Sun' (Oberst) – Bright Eyes
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
(Dead Oceans)
'Stairwell Song' (Oberst) – Bright Eyes
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
(Dead Oceans)
