Conor Oberst returns, but this time hes happy not to be in the spotlight anymore.
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Usually, itll pass.
At 40, the indie-rock elder has a youthful air, but today he looks beat.
For three days in a row, he has been sleeping just two hours a night.
Still, hes in good Midwest humor.
At least the weathers nice, he says.
COVID-19 wiped all that out.
The record almost got lost as well.
He doesnt sound bitter about losing all those years of planning.
The first couple weeks, I was feeling sorry for myself, he recalls.
(Shes my best friend, he says, noting that they see each other all the time.)
The pandemic prompted the shutdown of the local bar he co-owns, Pageturners.
I always associated that with happiness, Oberst says about those evenings.
Just a few years ago, a Bright Eyes reunion was not a given.
I just kinda moved on, he says quickly.
Theres nothing more to be said about it.
On a separate call, his bandmate Mike Mogis is more blunt.
Mogis is thankful to be making a new Bright Eyes record with Oberst as he is now.
On past records, Oberst would often bring in songs for the other two to make prettier.
OnDown in the Weeds,everyone contributed musical ideas and fleshed them out together.
Bright Eyes albums are defined by their bigness big feelings, big sounds, big screams.
In other words, theyre classically emo.
Its an album he hopes will still sound good in 20 years.
I have had no motivation, he says.
He hasnt been impressed with all the quarantine-themed music, either.
I get the impulse, but I havent heard one that moved me.
Its sort of like stating the obvious, he adds.
Maybe one will come out thatll sum it all up.
In the meantime, hes content with not having to pretend he cares about the conversations on the internet.
There are more visible Bright Eyes fans now across age groups and genres that arent normally associated with Oberst.
Rapper Young Thug sampled First Day of My Life on 2017s Me or Us.
(Thats some Rimbaud shit, says Oberst of the late rapper.)
Bridgers, the current figurehead of sad indie folk, is a vocal Bright Eyes disciple.
And Post Malone used his MarchGQ Stylecover story to talk about how much he idolizes Oberst.
Im Wide Awake, Its Morningis probably one of the saddest [albums], Malone said.
I sit there, and Im drinking and crying my fuckin eyes out to that shit.
Oberst compares his songs to composite sketches.
If Im singinghe, she, I,oryou,thats not really the gist of the lyric.
Heartache hurts when youre 22 and when youre 42.
A Bright Eyes song will age with you.
