It’s been almost ten years since Bright Eyes last performed a show together (in Honolulu on 11/21/2011), but tonight (6/22) they’re back together – with some additional friends – to play their brand new single “Mariana Trench” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Today’s single release comes with details of the band’s long-awaited tenth album, and first since 2011, Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was, to be released on Dead Oceans on August 21st.
The news has been a long time coming for fans who were first alerted to new material in January when the long dormant social media accounts were revived with new images. A steady march of captivating songs released over the past few months has ramped up the excitement – first with the melancholy nostalgia of “Persona Non Grata”, then with the slick near joyous fever dream of “Forced Convalescence” and most recently with the elegant orchestral “One And Done”. “Mariana Trench” rattles with anxiety, its epic sprawl exploding with the forward-chugging momentum of syncopated brass. Bright Eyes are back at exactly the moment we need them most.
The mesmerizing video for “Mariana Trench” was created by Art Camp. Speaking on the creation of the video, Art Camp states: “The production of the video started at the beginning of quarantine and finished as people came back out of their homes and took to the streets together. In 18 different bedrooms across the world, listening to Bright Eyes, keeping each other company, we got the chance to collaborate on a story about embracing and celebrating change. The animation is composed of 2,200 hand-illustrated ink paintings based on original 3D animation and archival footage. We hope it makes you excited to imagine that everything could be new
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. For Conor Oberst, coming back to Bright Eyes was a bit of that. A symbol of simpler times, vaguely nostalgic. And even though it wasn’t actually possible to go back to the way things were, even though there wasn’t an easy happy ending, there was a new reality left to work with.
Photo by Danny Cohen
Down In The Weeds Where The World Once Was tracklist:
1.) Pageturner’s Rag
2.) Dance And Sing
3.) Just Once In The World
4.) Mariana Trench
5.) One and Done
6.) Pan and Broom
7.) Stairwell Song
8.) Persona Non Grata
9.) Tilt-A-Whirl
10.) Hot Car in the Sun
11.) Forced Convalescence
12.) To Death’s Heart (In Three Parts)
13.) Calais To Dover
14.) Comet Song
