Bright Eyes

Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements: each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes.

The end of Bright Eyes' unofficial hiatus came naturally. Conor Oberst pitched the idea of getting the band back together during a 2017 Christmas party at bright eyes bandmate Nathaniel Walcott's Los Angeles home.

Sit at the Kids Table. Go to prom. Try a new SSRI. Deface a mural. Flip the mattress. Help a bird. Dissociate. Last vacation. These landmark occasions are inscribed on the board-game-inspired cover of the new Bright Eyes EP, Kids Table. And therein lies the chiaroscuro of Bright Eyes’ music, perpetually teetering between rogue optimism and pragmatic despair. Following the band’s 2024 visceral and hook-filled Five Dice, All Threes, the new EP exists as both a partner-in-crime to that album, and a self-contained world all of its own.

Beginning a new chapter in life can lead to unexpected opportunities. Steel pan master Victor Provost has met each new phase in his life with enthusiasm and an effort to use the momentum of change to spur his creative forces. It was while expecting his first child’s birth that he funneled his nervous excitement into composing and recording his new album, Bright Eyes.

Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation. These are, of course, qualities that fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes, nearly three decades into their career.

*Bright Eyes* (1974) is a standout album by Melissa Manchester, featuring a blend of soft rock and adult contemporary pop. The album is best known for its title track, “Bright Eyes,” which became a major hit and was featured in the animated film *Watership Down*. With Manchester’s warm, expressive vocals and introspective songwriting, the album explores themes of love, longing, and reflection. Supported by lush arrangements and melodic instrumentation, *Bright Eyes* helped establish Manchester’s career as a gifted singer-songwriter in the 1970s, appealing to fans of heartfelt, melodic pop music.

The end of Bright Eyes' unofficial hiatus came naturally. Conor Oberst pitched the idea of getting the band back together during a 2017 Christmas party at bright eyes bandmate Nathaniel Walcott's Los Angeles home. The two huddled in the bathroom and called Mike Mogis, who was Christmas shopping at an Omaha Mall. As a title, as a thesis, 'Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was' functions on a global, apocalyptic level of anxiety that looms throughout the record. But on a personal level, it speaks to rooting around in the dirt of one's memories, trying to find the preciousness that's overgrown and unrecognizable.

When Rob Sheffield moved to New York City in the summer of 2001, he was a young widower trying to start a new life in a new town. Behind, in the past, was his life as a happily married rock critic, with a wife he adored, and a massive collection of mix tapes that captured their life together. And then, in a flash, all he had left were the tapes.
Beyoncé , Bowie, Bon Jovi, Benatar . . . One night, some friends dragged him to a karaoke bar in the West Village. A night out was a rare occasion for Rob back then.