While he's a canny writer, Oberst is no Dylan. His skill is in the delivery of his songs: the tremor and quake in his vibrato, the way he'll bite into the last word of a line, and the energy he invests in his moments of fuck-it complaisance. Like good friend Tim Kasher (The Good Life, Cursive), much of Oberst's oeuvre revolves around loneliness and relational pain, but even so he manages a bit of self-deprecating humor, as on "Lover I Don't Need To Love," where he sings of a post-show rendezvous, commenting "bad actors with bad habits, some sad singers they just play tragic."
Indeed, at some point the tortured artist becomes just another pose, but with Bright Eyes there's an overwhelming desire to forgive it, because it sounds so damn good.
Bright Eyes, Coco Rosie, and Tilly & The Wall play the BTI Center in Raleigh on Monday, Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $19 advance, $21 day of.
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