Bright Eyes - Cassadaga

Bright Eyes' prolific lynchpin Conor Oberst was hailed as a poster boy for liberal America and a Dylan-esque songwriter after last release, the double album I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning/Digital Ash in a Digital Urn in 2005. But even then, his was one of those bands you either 'get' or are left to question the acclaim, and new album Cassadaga won't do much to convince the sceptics. For a reputed folkie, it's a heavily orchestrated, ambitious work, from the symphonic opener Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed) to the woodwind backing of Cleanse Song. While Oberst's compositions justify the lavish band of musicians and collaborators on tracks like If the Brakemen Turns My Way and the gentle Make A Plan to Love Me, elsewhere the canvas is overstretched by lack of focus and inscrutable lyrics. As he sings himself: "All this automatic writing I have tried to understand." You're not the only one. [Nick Mitchell]