Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
| Bright Eyes
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is the tenth studio album by Bright Eyes, the Nebraska band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott.The release marks the band's first project in nearly a decade, following The People's Key (2011). It was released by Dead Oceans on August 21, 2020, making it their first album not released by Saddle Creek Records. The album was recorded at ARC Studios in Omaha and Electro-Vox and Capitol Studios in Los Angeles. It features musical contributions from drummer Jon Theodore and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea who had previously recorded The Mars Volta's 2003 debut studio record De-loused in the Comatorium together. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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NME
Album 10 sees the alt-folk vanguard explore gut-wrenching heartbreak with their trademark honesty and an increased appetite for eclecticism.
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The Independent
Down In the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is another classic to brood to.
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Consequence of Sound
That culmination — from grief to love — is what truly makes these Bright Eyes songs feel new.
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mxdwn
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is 100 percent worth consuming in an attentive front-to-back listen. Fans of the crossover hits á la Of Monsters and Men will be right at home, those with a preference for less explosiveness with absolutely still be rewarded and those with an ear for Okkervil River’s down-to-earth storytelling and instrumentation will definitely walk away satisfied. It’s cliche, but there really is something here for every sort of indie rock fan.
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Gigwise
Their most diverse, restless collection since 2002.
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Stereogum
Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was, it feels like an old friend popping by to see what’s up.
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The Student Playlist
The first Bright Eyes album in nine years, ‘Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was’ is a consistent and direct display of Conor Oberst’s songwriting power.
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Beats Per Minute
What comes reverberating out of Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is Bright Eyes’ deep desire to create beautiful and ambitious music, which they’ve certainly done – even if the results aren’t as essential as what’s come before.
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The Indiecator
There’s plenty of added flair to go around on each track, and the band’s deep back catalogue and past sonic experiments have given them plenty of room to pull inspiration from past successes. Even if it’s not entirely pioneering, you’ll be glad the band is back together, and just hope it’s not another nine years before we get to enjoy them again.
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Sputnik Music
I felt lost and found with every step I took.
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Vinyl Chapters
Returning from an unofficial hiatus, Bright Eyes create a beautifully reminiscent mix of sounds and structures accompanied by thought-provoking lyrics.
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The Irish Times
there is gold to be mined with every listen; Bright Eyes have always been a band that reward patience, and this album is no different.
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When the Horn Blows
Any Bright Eyes fan will find something to like on Down in the Weeds. If you’ve not heard anything from Bright Eyes until now then there’s no better time to get acquainted with a modern music powerhouse.
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Coog Radio
Showing off Oberst’s ability to play with emotions, talking about an obviously struggling relationship and his hope for his child in the same breath leaves us with a sense of hope. This imbues the album with a more intense emotional impact, more bittersweet than crushingly depressed.
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Variety
While “Down in the Weeds” may be an apt reflection of the anxiety and fury many feel today, it doesn’t require that context to connect. Prior to their hiatus, Bright Eyes had never made music with an expiration date. With a tenth album now factored in, that streak remains intact.
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Pitchfork
Conor Oberst and company have not lost their taste for grandiosity on their first album in nearly a decade, setting familiar woes against a dazzling collage of sounds.
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Paste Magazine
The new record from the dormant indie rock band, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, brings their sound into exactly the right moment for 2020.
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All Music
Down in the Weeds avoids being either a phoned-in nostalgia trip or a wildly new direction that would alienate fans. Instead it continues Bright Eyes' evolution without skipping a beat, and manages to be one of their stronger records in the process.
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London Evening Standard
An inescapably foreboding comeback.
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DIY Magazine
At once bleak, grey and obsessed with morbidity, and lush, blooming and gorgeous, it’s great to have them back.
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Louder than War
In other words, it is Very Much A Bright Eyes Record. And we can not ask for more than that.
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Slant Magazine
The band continues to be unmatched at tackling the biggest questions with a profound, heart-wrenching intimacy.
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music AV Club
Oberst just turned 40, and Down In The Weeds feels like the work of someone who’s reckoning with middle age, or at least the specter of it. There’s the mature reflection he intertwines with his urgency. There’s his hard-fought optimism. And there’s the embrace of community, the sense that Oberst doesn’t want to stare down these songs alone.
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The Upcoming
Listening to Bright Eyes always feels like you’re reading a book rather than listening to a record, and this is no exception. Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was explores themes of human greed and selfishness, ageing, passing away and questioning higher illusive powers. The mix of female vocals in parts diversifies this experience, with the lyricism blending into one another. This is very much a Bright Eyes album, and this mark of consistency is its strongest weapon.
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Stereoboard
Fortunately, ‘Down in the Weeds, Where The World Once Was’ is also clever, emotionally engaging and beautifully performed.
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Treblezine
Down In the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is achingly familiar. Yet it shirks its former apoplexy or prior folk whimsy for a common thread that lingered throughout all of Bright Eyes’ oeuvre, and that was a study of life, at its beginning, and at its end. Down displays hope for only one thing: that we survive, and we look back on the journey here.
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Under the Radar Magazine
The resulting record is a comfortable return to the sounds, themes, and band members that have made Bright Eyes’ music special to a generation of listeners. Where the band goes from here is anyone’s guess, but Bright Eyes’ latest is a satisfying new addition to a storied career.
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Earbuddy
While it may not be as memorable as some of 2020’s other great records, it does live up to the legacy of the project and deserves a listen.
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The Arts Desk
His cryptic, committed, broken-voiced melancholy is a good fit for these times.
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Spectrum Culture
Bright Eyes was always destined to return, and they’re just as beautiful as you remembered.
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Glide Magazine
Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is an lp that shows a group who has been down in the weeds, laying low and pondering— just waiting for their chance to make a triumphant return.
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The Line of Best Fit
Bright Eyes’ storytelling remains heart-wrenchingly poignant even after a near-decade hiatus.
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No Ripcord
hough Bright Eyes' reunion is a cause of celebration, Down in the Weeds is at odds with itself—where the band balances music that is ambitious in scope with some of Oberst's most nakedly personal work.
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Stack
On Down In The Weeds, Oberst and co. have produced another rousing, vital record that might just be known as their most accomplished work to date.
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Riff Magazine
Fans of the band will appreciate Oberst’s symphonic turn and emergent sense of the grandiose. Aficionados of mid-2000s indie rock will recognize the work of a gifted songwriter.
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