'Eyes' unfocused

Regarding Bright Eyes' latest album, Cassadaga, I believe many fans are going to face a conundrum. On the one hand, the music -- a mix of countrified dust-ups, sing-along stomps, slow-dance torch songs and more -- is an encouraging return to form. A change of pace from the (mostly) monochrome folk of 2005's I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and the bland electronica of its fraternal twin Digital Ash In A Digital Urn. Not only is Cassadaga more interesting to listen to, its melodies stick in your mind long after you've put down the headphones. \nHowever, those lyrics -- sheesh! While not every song is afflicted, Conor Oberst frequently vacillates between cringe-inducing self-pity and muddled, awkward political statements.\nRegarding the former, songs like "Soul Singer In A Session Band" have lyrics like "See the soul singer in the session band/ Shredded to ribbons beneath a microphone stand" and "If The Brakeman Turns My Way" goes "Raven thoughts blacken your mind until you're breathing in reverse/ All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse." Try very hard to make yourself commiserate with poor Conor. Must be awful being a handsome, successful indie rock star … \nMeanwhile, the political songs are so clunky you can play a game of giving them far-out interpretations that progressive, MoveOn.org-supporter Oberst presumably never intended. For example, in the chorus of "Four Winds," is he siding with the Iranian theocracy in cheering the downfall of the liberal, socially permissive West ("But when great Satan's gone, the whore of Babylon/ She just can't sustain the pressure where it's placed/ She caves")? In "I Must Belong Somewhere" -- a song whose purpose seems to be to rhyme random evocative phrases ("Leave the lilac print on the linen sheet/ Leave the birds you killed at your father's feet") -- is he endorsing segregation by singing "Leave the poor black child in his crumbling school today"? Doubtful -- but these lines pop out without context, like non-sequiturs. It's as if he wants to be "political" without an actual message.\nStill, on love and relationships, Oberst knows how to bring it. "Classic Cars," about being a rich woman's musician boy-toy, makes for one of the album's most amusing moments; while croon-ballad, "Make A Plan To Love Me" will melt many a hip heart. And, musically, only psychedelic wannabe "Coat Check Dream Song" is a let-down.\nIn all, not a bad listen -- just don't think too hard about the lyrics.