No Winona jokes -- I promise

Musings on music delivered when I dig myself out.

No Winona jokes -- I promise

Or "Lua" and "Take It Easy," the two simultaneously released singles from the new Bright Eyes albums, I'm Wide Awake It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.

I'm trying in vain to figure out what the recent fascination is with putting out double albums, or in the case of emo cutie/scapegoat Conor Oberst (and Nelly!), putting out two different albums on the same day. With Oberst I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with money and more to do with being a prolific songwriter. Could it also be an effort to put out something for everyone, including the ex-emos that left the flock when Bright Eyes became a touchstone for the "unworthy"? Overemphasizing aesthetic differences? Probably; but to downplay the differences between these two new singles would be to obscure their delightful nature.

Anyone worried that Oberst would be too busy slugging down vodka to write decent tunes should be ashamed and told to sing five "Haligh, Haligh, A Lie, Haligh"s as penance. Both songs are charmingly low budget without being proud of it and dark like a pleasurable dusk. "Take It Easy" finds Oberst hunched over a laptop, punching out helicopter drum programming and nervy bleeps upon bloops. "Lua" could've easily been conceived on the balcony of an LES apartment -- barebones, endearing, and as usual, packed with emotion. Neither of the tracks is particularly ambitious as far as Bright Eyes goes, but they are far from detritus. These tracks are exciting if they are proper primers to the upcoming albums and begrudgingly amazing if they are not.