Photo credit: Shawn Brackbill
The world is a very strange place right now and we hope everyone is staying safe and adhering to the social distancing rules…
It feels weird that when Bright Eyes announced their comeback at the beginning of the year, everything seemed so different but Conor Oberst and co have decided to press on and have today shared brand new single ‘Persona Non Grata’ – the Omaha band’s first new material in nine years. It comes ahead of the release of a new album later this year (‘no matter what’) and is a song to absorb yourself into while staying at home. Put those headphones on now…
Conor’s dulcet tones open the song as he prepares for a special occasion: ‘Getting dressed for a date, put on blue aftershave, wore a kilt like a Celt’ and the latter part of that message runs through the entire song – especially in the intermittent bursts of bagpipes (the first time Bright Eyes have delved into this instrument). The lyrics paint a typically evocative picture that spans across subjects including Bollywood songs, Tiananmen Square and the Hebrew prophet Ezekiel (‘saw a valley of bones where no man should be saved’) before focusing on the toxic nature of certain relationships: ‘Made a life of deception and passive agrression’; ‘You want to be true to me once again. You want me to be true to you once again’ – all in just three and a half minutes.
