The People's Key - Bright Eyes, my review.

So I'm not a hardcore fan of Bright Eyes but I own 3 albums of theirs and like them. I had to write a review for a class about their latest album, The People's Key. Please don't slaughter me, because I know there are people who know way more about them than I do, and this very well may sound like I don't know what I'm talking about. It was just an assignment.

Listen to the new album before it's released.

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It’s hard to believe Bright Eye’s front man Conor Oberst is only 30 years old considering the band has been around since the mid-90s. And on February 15, the indie/folk band will be releasing their latest dish, The People’s Key, their tenth studio album.

Bright Eyes hasn’t come out with an album since 2007 when they released Cassadaga, so fans have been on edge since the announcement of a new album.

So what does the new album entail?

Well, fans can definitely expect to hear the same haunting vocals of Oberst they’re used to, backed up by a clean sounding set of melodies.

But although the vocals on this album are familiar and stay true to the sound of Bright Eyes, the album set-up itself tends to be a little lack luster.

The monologue at the beginning of the set of songs is very similar to how Cassadaga started – beginning the album with some sort of monologue that tries to tell a story about the album. And although Cassadaga had more of a country spin to a lot the songs, The People’s Key tends to sound very similar to the melodies of its previous counterpart.

“A Machine Spiritual” (The People’s Key) and “Hot Knives” (Cassadaga) have similar melodies. But I’ll give it them, being around for more than a decade, it’s hard not to have some songs sound like ones of the past.

And with this being said, one should hope that with any artist that has been around the block once or twice, they’d bring something to the table to make their sound feel fresh – and they did.

Some tracks like “Firewall” bring familiar, yet refreshing elements of earlier albums. While “Haile Selassie” makes the album feel more modern.

But it’s the mix of songs that stay true to Bright Eye’s fragmented compilations of the past.

The People’s Court has no real flowy transition between songs but the spoken words in the beginning as well as throughout, tie the album together to be inferred as a journey to enlightenment and almost has a spiritual feel - talking about the future and progressing, and lyrics like “We are starting over…” (“A Machine Spiritual").

Though the album may have similar sounds of past albums, for better and worse, Bright Eyes stays true to who they are, which is the most fans could ask for.