Bright Eyes
Letting Off The Happiness

THE REVIEW

When you think of 1998, it immediately brings to mind britpop, fringes, Adidas, and Beatles revival.

However, this is true only on the surface.

Beneath this "dazzling" world, a type of music was emerging which would later be labeled as indie-folk, finding its leading figures in Neutral Milk Hotel and Bright Eyes; we will now talk about the debut album of Conor Oberst's band.

The first thing that comes to mind is that I haven't heard an album this profoundly sincere since my first listen to The Madcap Laugh.

"Letting Off the Happiness" is a raw album, direct, a rough diamond just sketchily shaped with the help of some musicians who revolve around a core, Conor Oberst.

This album is a snapshot of the talent of a kid from Nebraska.

"Letting Off the Happiness" can be described as a contaminated folk album, where opposites alternate in a desperate struggle, acoustic guitars and guitars on the verge of being abrasive, delicate keyboard notes against pure noise, blatant irony against dark despair.

Emerging victorious from this perpetual struggle is Mr. Oberst's voice, capable of interpreting every single human emotion, whether singing a punk-folk track like "The City Has Sex" or a track with a rustic flavor like "June on the West Coast".

Ultimately, the debut of Bright Eyes is a deeply imperfect album, unripe as the right-thinking would say, but precisely because of this it turns out to be surprising, like those works that manage to crystallize the unintelligible in a never to be repeated moment.