“Hope you are doing okay in this insanity”
In the latest of NPR’s 20 minute “Tiny Desk” Youtube livestream concerts, the indie folk band Bright Eyes took the stage on September 28. Made up of singer songwriter Conor Oberst, multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis and pianist Nate Walcott, Bright Eyes came together from ARC studios in Nebraska all the way to Los Angeles to play three songs from their latest album, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.
The band opened strong with “Mariana Trench,” a soulful folk ballad propelled forward by the steady, pounding rhythm of Nate Walcott’s piano. After the last piano chord faded out, Oberst then leaned into the microphone to introduce the band.
“This is Conor,” he said, pointing to his chest. His voice was slightly awkward and breathy, but still earnest. “This is your friend Mike here.” Oberst pointed to his side and the camera cut away to Mogis, who smiled and waved at the camera. The conversation shifted to Mogis’s “desk,” a Neve 8068 sound console, then back to the livestream. “We’re going to play you another song off the new album,” Oberst continued. “Featuring this beautiful instrument, called a Marxophone.” The Marxophone is a fretless zither instrument, a box with guitar strings along the top played with metal hammers. “The name of the song is Pan and Broom,” Oberst said.
Mogis said something inaudible as he tapped the metal hammers of the Marxophone. Conor glanced at him, then back at the camera. “He hardly plays it, but he’s going to play it right now, for you.” He pointed at the camera, and the short interlude was over. The barebones drum machine riff that “Pan and Broom” is built on started up first, followed shortly by Oberst’s deep, melodic vocals and the tones of an electronic organ. By comparison, “Pan and Broom” is a mellower track than “Mariana Trench,” but its lyrics are no less dark and contemplative. Combined with the song’s minimalist instrumentation, “Pan and Broom” gives its intriguing lyrics the perfect amount of room to burrow deep in your brain: “not sure what comes after, life just went down a drain of rainy days, way up in the rafters, I float where the organ fades.”
The band paused again when the song finished, and Oberst took the opportunity to talk to the audience again. He opined about how nice the studio was and how much he enjoyed being there, and how strange our world has become because of COVID-19.
“Hope you’re doing okay, in this insanity in which we find ourselves” Oberst said. “This is a song kind of about being insane, or at least being insane enough that people don’t want you around. It’s called “Persona Non Grata.”
Fitting for a song about insanity, Oberst’s vocals are especially emotionally charged on this track, at times sounding as if he is on the verge of tears. Walcott’s calm piano and a mournful steel guitar make this song a dissonantly peaceful listening experience. Bright Eyes closed out with “Shell Games,” a track from their 2011 album The People’s Key. “Shell Games” has a markedly different sound compared to Bright Eye’s contemporary music, heavily featuring, for the first time on the livestream, a traditional electric guitar. With the last strum of the guitar, the concert was over.
