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

sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes.  Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothingthey have attempted before. Oberst has always sung in a voice that conveys a sense of life-or-death gravity. At times throughout ‘Five Dice, All Threes’, you may feel worried for him; othertimes, he may seem like the only one with the clarity to get us out of this mess.
 
On the self-produced album, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality that has made them so
enduring and influential across generations and genres, bringing their homespun sound from
an Omaha bedroom to devoted audiences around the world. In Oberst’s songwriting lies a
promise that our loneliest thoughts and feelings can take on grander shapes when passed
between friends, blasted through speakers, or shouted among crowds. This time around, the
band invite such like-minded voices onto the record with them, with notable guest appearances
from Cat Power (‘All Threes’), The National’s Matt Berninger (‘The Time I Have Left’), and Alex
Orange Drink, the frontman of the New York punk band The So So Glos, who co-wrote several
songs and shares a climactic verse in the surging ‘Rainbow Overpass’.

When they hit the studio with Oberst’s longtime bandmates - the multi-instrumentalist andproducer Mike Mogis, the keyboardist and arranger Nate Walcott - they opted for a fast-pacedapproach that drew inspiration from formative influences like The Replacements and FrankBlack. They sought textures that burst from the mix like gnarly splashes of paint on a blankcanvas; they opted for first takes and spontaneous decisions. ‘Five Dice, All Threes’ thrashesand squirms and resists classification. In the brilliant expanse of ‘El Capitan’, they blend agalloping rhythm you might find in a Johnny Cash standard with a swell of funereal horns,shouted vocals, and lyrics that read like a sobering farewell between twin souls. “So they’reburning you an effigy,” Oberst sings. “Well, that happens to me all the time!”

For every striking turn in his lyrics, the band know just how to complement him. On one level,‘Five Dice, All Threes’ may be the most fun album in the Bright Eyes catalogue, filled withsingalong hooks and buzzing performances.

And yet, sitting alongside these adrenalized rockers that sound beamed in directly from thegarage, you will find contemplative, psychedelic material like the heartbreaking ‘Tiny Suicides’and ‘All Threes’, a song whose jazzy piano solo and free-associative lyrics feel totallyunprecedented in the Bright Eyes catalogue.

unprecedented in the Bright Eyes catalogue.  As per usual, the music comes loaded with subtext that invites deep listening - the signaturetouch of a band who has always honoured the album as its own exalted work of art. In thegame of threes, the titular move would indicate a perfect roll. Perfection, however, meanssomething different in the world of Bright Eyes, where our flaws are what grants us authorityand finding meaning is only possible if we bear witness to the dark, winding journey to getthere. On ‘Five Dice, All Threes’, Bright Eyes embrace these beliefs with music that feelsthrillingly alive, as if we were all in the room with them, shouting along and gaining the strengthto move forward together. It doesn’t just sound like classic Bright Eyes. It sounds like theirfuture, too.