Bright Eyes have been slowly reissuing their albums as part of a “Companion” series, beginning with their first three LPs in February 2022 and continuing with three more in August 2022. Now, Bright Eyes have revealed the next full-lengths getting this treatment: 2006’s Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005), 2007’s Cassadaga, and 2011’s The People’s Key are due out in updated forms on June 16 via Dead Oceans.
In staying true with the series’ theme, each album is accompanied by a new “companion” EP where the band rerecorded five songs from the original album with new musicians, as well as a cover song. Conor Oberst was joined by longtime Bright Eyes members Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott, in addition to Gillian Welch, Alynda Segarra of Hurray For The Riff Raff, Johanna and Klara Söderberg of First Aid Kit, and more. Listen to three new recordings of “Middleman” from Cassadaga, “When You Were Mine” from The People’s Key, and “Blue Angels Air Show” from Noise Floor below.
“It’s been an interesting journey revisiting and reimagining all of these old songs. 54 songs total seems ridiculous now looking back, but I’m glad we did it,” said Oberst in a statement. “I hope all of the fun and neo-nostalgia we experienced recording these comes through to the listeners.”
This week, Bright Eyes embark on a short North American tour. It kicks off in Milwaukee on May 10 and finds the band performing in Minneapolis, Chicago, Tulsa, Little Rock, Houston, and more cities before concluding the run at Corona Capital Guadalajara in Mexico on May 21.
The most recent and 10th studio album by Bright Eyes, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, came out in 2020. The year prior, Conor Oberst teamed up with Phoebe Bridgers for their collaborative album as Better Oblivion Community Center.
Read the interview “The Music That Made Conor Oberst.”
Cassadaga: A Companion EP:
01 Clairaudients (Kill or Be Killed)
02 Middleman
03 Coat Check Dream Song
04 I Must Belong Somewhere
05 Napoleon’s Hat
06 Wrecking Ball
Nina Corcoran
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