Bright Eyes have announced the reissue of their first three albums: A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997, Letting Off the Happiness, and Fevers and Mirrors. The reissues, due out May 27 via Dead Oceans, will be paired with six-track “companion” EPs featuring reworked versions of the album’s original songs, including collaborations with Waxhatchee, Phoebe Bridgers, M Ward, and Becky Stark. Check out the first three singles—“Falling Out of Love at This Volume,” “Contrast & Compare” (featuring Waxahatchee), and “Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh” (featuring Phoebe Bridgers)—and the companion EP tracklists below.
Of the reissues—which follow Bright Eyes moving their catalog to Secretly Group—Conor Oberst said in a statement:
It’s a meaningful way to connect with the past that doesn’t feel totally nostalgic and self-indulgent. We are taking these songs and making them interesting to us all over again. I like that. I like a challenge. I like to be forced to do something that’s slightly hard, just to see if we can. My thing was they had to sound different from the originals, we had to mess with them in a substantial way.
Bright Eyes are set to head out on a tour of the United States in March; one dollar from each ticket sold will go to the Downtown Women’s Center in Los Angeles. In 2020, they shared a song called “Miracle of Life” to benefit Planned Parenthood.
Check out Pitchfork’s 5-10-15-20 feature “The Music That Made Conor Oberst.”
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A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997: A Companion EP:
01 Driving Fast Through a Big City at Night
02 Solid Jackson
03 A Celebration Upon Completion
04 Falling Out of Love at This Volume
05 Exaltation on a Cool Kitchen Floor
06 Double Joe (Simon Joyner cover)This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion EP:
01 The Difference in the Shades
02 The City Has Sex [ft. Waxahatchee]03 Contrast and Compare [ft. Waxahatchee]04 Kathy With a K’s Song [ft. M Ward]05 St. Ides Heaven [ft. Phoebe Bridgers] (Elliott Smith cover)
06 June on the West Coast [ft. Becky Stark]This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
Fevers and Mirrors: A Companion EP:
01 Haligh, Haligh, a Lie, Haligh [ft. Phoebe Bridgers]02 A Scale, a Mirror, and Those Indifferent Clocks [ft. Phoebe Bridgers]03 Arienette
04 Hypnotist (Song for Daniel H) (Lullaby for the Working Class cover)
05 When the Curious Girl Realizes She Is Under Glass [ft. Phoebe Bridgers]06 A Spindle, a Darkness, a Fever, and a Necklace [ft. Phoebe Bridgers]This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
