Conor Oberst (also known as Bright Eyes) is probably one of the few musicians that I can not stand. After living in Omaha Nebraska for eight years I have had to put up with many people praising him and he’s constantly being talked about amongst the indie hipsters. Once I found out that the lead singer/songwriter of The Good Life, Tim Kasher was one of Oberst’s best friends and attented the same college as him I wasn’t very enthused at what I was getting myself into. I mean The Good Life are even on Saddle Creek Records, the same record label as Bright Eyes. So here I am, stuck listening to another piss poor version of Bright Eyes.
I was both shocked and fooled when I got threw the first few songs. To my surprise
Black Out sounds nothing like anything that Oberst has ever released, so let’s move on. The Good Life is a side project, Tim Kasher also played a huge roll in making music with Cursive so he wanted to take time off to experiment with different rhythms and melodies. While I find both The Good Life and Cursive to be similar bands
Black Out is much more mellow and melancholy then anything Kasher has done. The music can range from loud, noisy riff based rockers to slow, relaxing acoustic driven songs. Different tones and melodies are found throughout the album, Kasher mixes things up just enough to keep you from being bored and he throws in plenty of simple rock/pop songs to keep things fun and upbeat.
The instrumentation is quite simple throughout the course of the album. Jingly guitar riffs, easy going acoustic lines, simple drum beats and basically unneeded bass work. On a few songs Kasher throws in some soft electronic sounds and other strange instruments like a harmonica or a banjo. I like this idea because it adds a little spice to the music without dominating the sound. There is no doubt about it,
Black Out is a heavily guitar driven album. Weather it be an acoustic or an electric guitar they tend to control almost all of the hooks and melodies. This can be either a good or a bad thing depending on how much you enjoy listening to poppy acoustic guitar riffs.
While the music can get a little bland and dull at times it holds up well throughout the forty seven minute long album. The thing that bothers me more is the sound of Tim Kashers voice. He sounds very relaxed and calm while he sings. His bright, gentle tone is quite soothing and mellow, he sounds like he is whispering the words at points. He has a fairly high pitched voice, which can wear thin throughout the album, especially on the poppier songs. It’s not that Tim has an annoying or girly voice I just think that he doesn’t show any emotion or energy at all. Sometimes it feels like he is reading words straight from a sheet of paper, he sounds bored and tired throughout the course of the album. That being said he blends together well with the upbeat, sometimes lazy feel of the music.
We all know that
Black Out doesn’t show a huge amount of ideas and isn’t very unique but there are still some excellent songs throughout the course of the album. To be honest I enjoy the more simple and laid back tracks more then anything.
I Am an Island and
The New Denial are both relaxing acoustic driven rock songs. While I’m not big on this sort of thing the songs work so well because they are just nice to kick back and enjoy. Kasher really knows how to create a nice easy going pop song without stripping things down or sounding like a whiny little school boy.
The Beathen Path is the most experimental and upbeat pop song off the album. It’s driven by a melodic drum beat, some chiming acoustic guitars, and a glistening array of various electronics also make their way into the song providing a nice twinkly background sound. Kasher also knows how to slow things down at the right time. The fuzzy, dreary drum beats of
Drinking With the Girls creates a nice late night bar type of feel while
Some Bullsh*t Escape is a western/folk influenced song driven by double douling acoustics eventually building up to a dynamic jam fest.
Sometimes I feel like the music is just to boring and while some songs contain interesting aspects and rhythms they just don’t work. There are three title tracks, and none of them break two minutes. All of them contain a spidery guitar riff and Kasher whispers the vocals. Haunting violin work shows up in one of the title tracks while the others just sort of put you in a trance, and don’t really do much but set an atmosphere that is broken up by the next song.
Empty Bed sort of sounds like an Egyptian song with interchanging drum beats and an interesting flute line but this is an exception to what I have said about Kasher because he does sound similar to a little whiny school boy. After
Empty Bed comes the six and a half minute
Don’t Make Love so Hard which can either be the albums highlight, or bore depending on how you look at things. For the most part, it’s a dreary, depressing, and laid-back song. It’s propelled by a snake like acoustic line and some soft drum rolls. Kasher sings in a low pitched tone and eventually some violin playing comes into the song creating an even more downbeat feel. For me, this is the highlight of the album but it takes a while to grow on you, as well as the rest of this album.
Black Out demands both time and patience and while the reward isn’t very big it’s worth your time. The Good Life is a side project but you can tell that there was a lot of time put into the music and most of these songs are composed quite well.
Black Out borrows elements from basic pop/rock, dreary folk music, indie and I guess you could say that it has a tid bit of an emo influence. The music is nice to just kick back and listen to if you want some nice catchy tunes, and the darker and moodier songs work well because they are intense and they set a gloomier tone. It’s pretty obvious that some songs feel way to lazy, and Kasher sounds bored and dull at points which brings the album down. While
Black Out isn’t the next
Domestica it is still a good album featuring many well written songs, however the big downside is that it also has its fair share of snoozers.
