When M. Ward, Mike Mogis, Jim James, and Conor Oberst announced plans to record together, fans were quick to link the supergroup to the Traveling Wilburys, who blazed a similarly star-studded path 20 years prior. Truth be told, Monsters of Folk’s emphasis on harmony vocals and atmospheric arrangements has just as much in common with the work of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, even if the political concerns that grounded the latter group are largely absent here. Instead, the self-titled MONSTERS OF FOLK tackles religion, nature, love, and lust, with all four songwriters sharing vocals and songwriting duties. Mogis, who rose to prominence by playing a central but somewhat surreptitious role in Bright Eyes, receives slightly less screen time than the others, preferring instead to remain behind the scenes as producer and sideman. Even so, his guitar solo during “Say Please” is one of the album’s loudest, rawest moments, and his production helps draw connections between the album’s slew of songwriting styles and genres. “Folk” is defined broadly here, as the album encompasses everything from trip-hop to roots-rock to homely, homespun pop. Spread over fifteen tracks, the combination wears thin at several points, and several songs feel more like their creator’s solo work than a composite product. MONSTERS OF FOLK has moments on undeniable beauty, though, and when the musicians pitch their voices atop one another–as they do to notable effect on the gorgeous “Slow Down Jo”–the benefits of teamwork are more than clear.

Tracklisting
1. Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.)
2. Say Please
3. Whole Lotta Losin
4. Termazcal
5. The Right Place
6. Baby Boomer
7. Man Named Truth
8. Goodway
9. Ahead Of The Curve
10. Slow Down Jo
11. Losin Yo Head
12. Magic Marker
13. Map Of The World
14. Sandman, The Brakeman And Me
15. His Master’s Voice

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.65) – 4 stars out of 5 — “James’, Oberst’s and Ward’s voices meld beautifully in a variety of styles…”

Spin (p.84) – “Oberst, Ward, and James trade lead vocals on a few tunes and weave haunting harmonies throughout, but it’s not difficult to discern who the lead actor is on each cut.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.59) – “James is the goofball genius here, dishing out hilarious nonsense…” — Grade: B

Alternative Press (p.106) – 4 stars out of 5 — “The most interesting songs show off how surprisingly well Oberst’s unrefined warble melds with James’ liquid-smooth falsetto…”

CMJ – “[T]he music on their self-titled debut is powerful and consistent, highlighting everything we love about the four individuals in a fresh, new package.”

Billboard (p.36) – “When viewed less as a hipster supergroup and more of an old-fashioned song swap, Monsters of Folk live up to their hype and then some.”

Q (Magazine) (p.109) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]he barroom rollicking of ‘Say Please’ and ‘Losin Yo Head’ evoke a real sense of all-for-one rock romance.”

Record Collector (magazine) (p.92) – 4 stars out of 5 — “MONSTERS OF FOLK seems to have encouraged a raising of the group’s collective game.”

Related Posts
Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
Conor Oberst – Self Titled
My Morning Jacket – Z

It’s clear that the year-plus Bright Eyes’s Conor Oberst took between 2005’s widely acclaimed I’M WIDE AWAKE, IT’S MORNING (and the simultaneously released DIGITAL ASH IN A DIGITAL URN) and 2007’s CASSADAGA was well spent. The product of intensive studio time, a crack assembly of musicians, and lavish, lovely production and arrangements, CASSADAGA stands as one of Bright Eyes’ most confident and consistent works.

The album throws together genres–folk, country, rock, pop–and coats it all in a gauzy dressing of strings, harmonies, and high-end atmospherics. Yet at the center of it all is still Obert’s songwriting: witty, emotive, literate, and replete, this time out, with references to the expanse and grandeur of America as a playing field for life, love, and politics. At times reflective, at times rousing, CASSADAGA plays like a sweet pop dream, and adds another notch to Bright Eyes’ already impressive discography.

Tracklisting
1. Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Killed)
2. Four Winds
3. If The Brakeman Turns My Way
4. Hot Knives
5. Make A Plan To Love Me
6. Soul Singer In A Session Band
7. Classic Cars
8. Middleman
9. Cleanse Song
10. No One Would Riot For Less
11. Coat Check Dream Song
12. I Must Belong Somewhere
13. Lime Tree

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.61) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[With] remarkable love songs….[Oberst] shows he can still tell us something by communing with himself.”

Rolling Stone (p.108) – Included in Rolling Stone’s “50 Top Albums of the Year 2007″ — “Oberst’s loose, memorable tunes and lyrics about crises both personal and global are consistently engaging…”

Spin (p.89) – 4 stars out of 5 — “Oberst’s countryish genre studies have deepened with a very adult loneliness.”

Entertainment Weekly (p.72) – “Musically, it’s his richest album yet, full of Nashville twang and Branson brassiness. And lyrically, the itinerant-traveler conceit is intriguing…” — Grade: B

Q (p.117) – 4 stars out of 5 — “The strapping, clear-headed coherence of ‘Four Winds’ is echoed throughout the album….At long last his star is born.”

Alternative Press (p.150) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[With] ambitious string arrangements and swinging instrumentation that echo great ’70s works by Joe Cocker and Elton John.”

CMJ (p.6) – “[H]e offers some of the most polished country-folk of his 14-year career. His lyrical acuity is in tact…”

Kerrang (Magazine) (p.49) – “With sweeping string sections almost reminiscent of Smashing Pumpkins, psychedelic pop structures, political protest poetics and dusty country production….[His] most opulent work yet.”

Q (Magazine) (p.80) – Ranked #23 in Q’s “The 50 Best Albums Of 2007″ — “Conor Oberst has made his most assured album to date…”

Mojo (Publisher) (p.110) – 4 stars out of 5 — “CASSADAGA is an album to warm souls, rally minds and break hearts in equal measure.”

At least temporarily dropping the band name Bright Eyes, which Omaha native Conor Oberst has recorded under since his mid-teens, CONOR OBERST serves as a reintroduction to the singer-songwriter. From the lack of album title to the minimalist cover photograph of the Conor lounging in a hammock, this album is at the same time free of artifice and deliberately reminiscent of the singer-songwriters of the 1970s. With folk and country elements increasingly prominent in his work recently, the move is neither unexpected nor out of character, and as a whole, CONOR OBERST is both a worthy successor to Bright Eyes’ brilliant 2007 release CASSADEGA and one of his strongest albums, period. Recorded in the rural Mexican village of Tepoztlan with his new band the Mystic Valley Band, CONOR OBERST has the stripped-down, laid-back feel of vintage early ’70s Laurel Canyon, halfway between Neil Young and Jackson Browne. Particular highlights include the magical country-rock road song “Moab”, the impassioned character study “I Don’t Want To Die (In A Hospital).” and the wonderful album closer “Milk Thistle.”

Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.90) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “A rough-hewn, death-haunted travelogue….Largely, this is the introspective folk rock of Bright Eyes, though there’s some welcome shift away from autobiography…”
Rolling Stone (p.91) – Ranked #23 in Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums Of 2008 — “Tracks like ‘I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)’ feel like lost Hank Williams demos.”

Spin (p.114) – 3.5 stars out of 5 — “[T]he whole thing gels remarkably well: Each mood lets the other breathe….Bookend tracks ‘Cape Canaveral’ and the heartbreaking ‘Milk Thistle’ strike slow, sad notes, offering the naked vulnerability that inspires fans devotion and Dylan comparisons.’

Entertainment Weekly (p.67) – “[T]his collection is admirably vivid about the melancholy of both romantic love and the world containing it.” — Grade: B+

Q (Magazine) (p.105) – 4 stars out of 5 — “[T]he playing here has an ease to it….One has the sense of a front porch at twilight, the singing of cicadas and the smell of smoke in the air.”

Blender (Magazine) (p.80) – 4 stars out of 5 — “Oberst always projects a spiritual generosity unknown to most footloose troubadours who can’t commit.”

Clash (magazine) (p.114) – “[T]he songs roll along wonderfully, as the deeply intelligent and intricate lyrics tumble from the singer’s mouth.”