by Lauren Rosier
If you’re a fan of indie rock, there’s no doubt you’re familiar with what Rolling Stone dubbed as the King of Indie Rock in Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes. The band may be one of my absolute favorite bands of all time and this record one of my favorites by the group.
Like many other Bright Eyes’ fans, I was introduced to the band with the 2002’s release of Lifted or The Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. Now, this release was met with critical acclaim and could be recognized when Oberst and company really began to garner interest from the media. After several years of being a Bright Eyes fan, I was introduced to Happiness and immediately fell in love.
Letting Off The Happiness is the brilliant sophomore effort from Bright Eyes. This is one of the lesser-known and less popular records from the band; however, even with the lo-fi recording quality, the record sounds exactly like what you would expect from a late 90’s indie rock band. And of course, Oberst’s lyricism was as poetic then as it is compared to the more recent albums.
The album opens with the track “If Winter Ends”; perhaps, one of the best songs on the record. The song is a very emotionally driven song depicting struggling with depression and has a very raw, rough quality to it, which makes it much more relatable.
I dreamt of a fever
One that would cure me of this cold, winter set hear
With heat to melt these frozen tears
Burned with reasons as to carry on
Into these twisted months I plunge without a light to follow
But I swear I would follow anything
Just get me out of here
Don’t get me wrong, I love Lifted, but Happiness for me really encompasses everything that I’ve loved about Bright Eyes and Oberst since being exposed to their music. Oberst was only 15 years old at the time of the release of Happiness and even at such a young age, he still had the talent of an experienced lyricist who could craft words and emotions into a full song that could pull at your heartstrings.
