Four Winds [EP]

Bright Eyes

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2007)
• Original Release Date: March 6, 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP
• Label: Saddle Creek
• ASIN: B000MTPAKY
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #26,253 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
With the once revolving line-up of musicians settled on the three constants of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott, Bright Eyes spent much of 2006 in the studio working on their follow-up to the acclaimed simultaneous releases Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning. The first single from these sessions, "Four Winds", is presented here along with 5 exclusive B-sides. Retaining the simmering glow of its predecessors, Four Winds is full of the magic that brought Bright Eyes to international attention. Carefully played, deftly poetic and quietly enchanting, the release has a wandering country charm and all of the story-telling seductiveness of earlier work. The Four Winds single is the precursor to the new Bright Eyes album - Cassadaga - to be released in the US on April 10th. Four Winds and Cassadaga were recorded in various studios in New York City, Los Angeles, Portland, OR and Lincoln, NE. The sessions included a host of guest performers including M.Ward, David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Janet Weiss of Sleater-Kinney.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blown to..., March 17, 2007

By	E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Apparently someone turned on some vintage rock'n'roll around Conor Oberst, because the Bright Eyes' latest EP is very different from their last two albums. Instead, the "Four Winds" EP embraces an entirely different sound -- countryish, folksy, and with a dash of music-hall at times.

"Your class, your caste, your country, sect, your name or your tribe/There's people always dying trying to keep them alive," Oberst sings in the title song, tearing through a dour song over a rootsy fiddle and guitar, Mexican girl murals, long shadows, the US's existance, and crumbling society.

It's followed up by the strings and alt-rock of "Reinvent the Wheel," and the quietly folksy "Smoke Without Fire." But then it's off to rock'n'roll-land, with the sizzling slow-burn riffs of "Stray Dog Freedom," distorted country-rock of "Cartoon Blues." And he finally finishes it off with a sort of ghostly folk song, full of harmonica and tapping feet. It sounds like a ghost town's theme song.

Conor Oberst always seems to be diddling around with new sounds -- the last two Bright Eyes albums were basically in two entirely different styles. And "Four Winds" shows us a more uptempo, country-inflected side of the band, without losing the doom'n'gloom sociopolitical lyrics.

The music is pretty straightforward -- lots of acoustic guitar, some strings that can shimmer or twang, and the occasional bit of harmonica. And some rapid-clashing piano in music-hall style. And he diddles around with distortion that twists an otherwise ordinary song into a bizarroworld pop tune, with a "baby" voice echoing his.

Despite the upbeat note of most of the music, Oberst always sounds on the verge of tears. No wonder, since his songs predict America's collapse, mocks those who call him a poser, contemplates drugs and "something changing the world/like a new constitution/a thief I would have to pursue/at all times/at all costs/the truth!"

Bright Eyes has a new album coming out soon, and if this "Four Winds" EP is a representative sampling of what's ahead, it's going to be a good one. Different, but enjoyable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great Ep, March 29, 2007

By	Catherine Rubsam - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a good ep from Connor, even though if, from what I've heard of Cassadega, it may contain some better songs than his upcoming album. But, nevertheless, this is great, and I really hope further listening will make Cassadega come alive for me. I don't know why, but, even with the folkish greatness of Four Winds, Connor has chosen to pursue the country side of his sprawling LP, Lifted or The Story Is In the Soil Put Your Ear To the Ground, rather than the beautiful folk/indie stuff from his earlier, more brilliant Fevers and Mirrors and Every Day And Every Night. He explores a little of that on Cartoon Blues and Reinvent the Wheel, but he seems to be countrifying his new stuff. Which, frankly, is a little disapointing, because, while every Bright Eyes song is a work of genious, he seems to be teetering a little too close to the country side of American radio for my liking. But, like I said, I hope it does get better than my initial perception is telling me. Buy this ep and his older stuff and hope for the best.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Time to shine on his own, March 18, 2007

By	vedderoh1 "vedderoh1" (NJ United States) - See all my reviews

It is always scary to hear the hyperbolic comparisons journalists love to give certain musicians when they've accomplished what may be their best work to date. In Conor's case it was also a curse that he ahd to get rid of.
By sampling only the tip of what Cassadag awill be, Four winds EP gives us a new respire and new reasons to believe Bright Eyes cannot and will not be tied down to allegories of "the new this" or "the young that" that its lead singer received two years ago.
Opening track Four winds is a more upbeat song if we compared it to anything included in I'm awake it's morning", while 'Smoke without fire". duet with M. Ward takes us back to the times when he was relatively unknown and his ballads sounded like a cry more than a song/ 'Stray dog freedom" explores more the sound of southern rock with louder guitars and a more proper verse-chous-verse structure. Closing track "tourist trap" proves to be the real gem, like in most of his previous EPs.
Although a tease for those of us waiting for the complete album, this EP is worth every penny. Get it, enjoy it, and find out why Bright Eyes music makes the fans rave and passionately love them.