Video: Bright Eyes: "Hot Knives"
Bright Eyes concerts have gotten a lot bigger since I last saw Conor Oberst perform, on a bill with M. Ward and My Morning Jacket's Jim James ahead of 2005's I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning / Digital Ash in a Digital Urn. The new video for Bright Eyes' "Hot Knives", from this year's Cassadaga, starts with the Omaha singer-songwriter playing in the dark. His own image is projected onto his guitar and the white suit he wore for a recent show at New York's Town Hall. Then director Patrick Daughters zooms out to give a good sense of the track's huge band and string section-- Win Butler may have Oberst's unmistakable quaver, but Bright Eyes have the Arcade Fire's numbers. Swirling colors project onto a screen behind the group, as Oberst sings straight into the camera about an ache that won't quit. Yes, he has made love, thank you, but this is a family video, so he doesn't say "fucked". The clip is showing at The Directors Bureau; thanks to Jordan Johnsson for the tip.
Video:> Bright Eyes: "Hot Knives"
[from Cassadaga; out now on Saddle Creek]