Conor Oberst and co. return after various other projects to make what could be the last album under the Bright Eyes moniker, evidently departing from their usual Americana sound and exploring stones of music untouched in their previous pieces. The album begins with 7 minute long song ‘Firewall’, this opens with a religious monologue that sets precedence for the forthcoming tracks, the ramblings discuss reptiles and the Garden of Eden. As I said this sets the mood for the album, after the spoken word there is actually a very good song in Firewall, and that represents the new direction Bright Eyes’ have taken with The People’s Key a chance to break away from pigeon holes and stereotypes, from the upbeat and enthusiastic feel of ‘Jejune Stars’ to the dark and soothing tensions in ‘Approximate Sunlight’, this is probably the first Bright Eyes album to cover this many musical sounds and feelings, and that’s just the first 4 songs.
The phrase emotional rollercoaster has been tossed around too much, so Bright Eyes new sounds is more reflective of a stroll in the park on a cold winter day, although that probably doesn’t make sense unless you’ve done it. Track Five ‘Haile Selassie’ continues the darkening theme of ‘Approximate Sunlight’, the vocals maintain an echoing tension, the music remains deep and powerful, and the experience is amazingly different to that of Bright Eyes’ albums Cassadaga or I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. The People’s Key is very different to these albums, it shows the band in a much more mature light, albeit that light is very dimly lit in an alleyway of beautifully dark lyrics and the rolling tensions of the instruments.
‘A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)’ and ‘Triple Spiral’ tear up the atmosphere of what was just created, whereas at the opening of The People’s Key the album mixed from song to song, there are atmospheres developing song by song later in the album. With these two aforementioned songs the mood has been uplifted, although it still has resonances of a haunting theme, coming through Oberst’s poetic lyrics ‘A Machine Spiritual..’ and ‘Triple Spiral’ create an awkward sensation in the listeners’ mind, well in mine at least.
Finally, The People’s Key ends on two very different yet equally memorable as they leave you wanting more, but will there be more? ‘Ladder Song’ and ‘One for You, One for Me’ will create a fire in many Bright Eyes fans’ belly’s, yearning for another Bright Eyes album in the future and if its as good as The People’s Key, the people won’t be disappointed. Track of the album, I’d have to say, is ‘Jejune Stars’ it oozes quality and pleasure from start to finish.
