Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South

If you’ve come here looking for a helpful soundtrack to some impending suicide attempt in a rustic shack on the edge of a steely lake in the ass-crack of nowhere, turn away. Long gone are the ‘woe is me’ laments that propelled Conor Oberst to the heady heights of melancholy folk demigod status. Outer South sees the downbeat indie king shed the Bright Eyes moniker and hitch up with the Mystic Valley Band to produce something altogether more uptempo. Meaty, rumbling, Southern campfire riffs have filled out the poetic nihilism that characterised I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning/Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, resulting in 16 tracks stricken by an internal identity crisis. The band get a look in at some writing duties and the odd shot at vocals, consequently muddling the whole piece into a sickeningly democratic, beige affair. Frustratingly measured and cloyingly safe, Oberst seems to be a bit too happy for his own, and ultimately our, good.