EAMONN MARRA

Every Record I Own: Bright Eyes – Noise Floor

This is another record left behind by my old flatmate Jonny years ago. Thank you Jonny for leaving this behind as it’s a good one.

I came to Bright Eyes slightly too late in life. I first started listening when I was 18, and got really into him at about 19/20. I think if I had of been a fan at 16 I would have a stronger connection now. There are a few pieces of nostalgia other people have that I am a bit jealous of, and having a deep connection to Bright Eyes is one of them. I do still really like the music but I do feel like there’s teenage strong feelings I’m missing.

This is a collection of B Sides and Rarities. It’s 2 LPs and is quite long. As most B sides and rarities album the quality of tracks on this vary in quality. There’s some tracks that are forgettable but there are also some of the best Bright Eyes songs ever. I tend to like the quieter more spacious ones than the noisier ones.

There’s a song called Hungry for a Holiday on the vinyl edition of this, but isn’t on the streaming version (you can find it on youtube though), and it’s my favourite Bright Eyes song ever. When I looked it up it was made with a band/guy called the Album Leaf who I did listen to at 16, so maybe that’s why it resonates with me so much.

Conor Oberst has a couple of distinctive vocal fragments that he returns to again and again, and while listening to this my mind constantly gets pulled into other Bright Eyes songs.