Outer South

iTunes Review

For the past decade and much of the one before it, Conor Oberst has crafted his songs and poetry under the Bright Eyes name. But with 2008's self-titled album under his own name and this year's renewal with the Mystic Valley Band, Oberst has found a new avenue for his depth-defying folk-rock. Outer South might just be his most collaborative effort yet — it's stocked with songs written by his bandmates and the flow here isn't simpy Oberst's wounded phrasing, but the wide expanses drawn out by the band. He and the band are all over the place — rolling down the avenues on the raucous opener "Slowly (Oh So Slowly)" and invoking the ghosts of surreal poetry on the weary, Silver Jews-like "Eagle On a Pole." Other big moments come with the dusty, electric folk rock of "To All the Lights In the Windows" or during the whirring, plaintive cry of the Macey Taylor-sung "Worldwide." A track like "White Shoes" pinpoints the strange, maybe-too-intimate intimacy Oberst is known for. About as much of a Conor Oberst record as the Rolling Thunder Revue was a Bob Dylan tour, this album is a group effort and wildly rewarding.