Album: Bright Eyes

With Cassadaga, the prodigiously talented Conor Oberst confirms what many have thought for several years now, that he is the most gifted and intelligent lyricist under 30 working in America - and possibly anywhere - today. It's also, on a purely musical level, the most complete album that his Bright Eyes combo have created, the range and beauty of the arrangements largely attributable to Oberst's main co-conspirators, producer/ mandolinist/ pedal steel guitarist Mike Mogis, and pianist/trumpeter Nate Walcott, who furnishes the evocative string and woodwind arrangements that bring to life such lines as "everything is eclipsed by the shape of destiny" and "...just vanished into a thick mist of change".

Cassadaga - the title refers to a community of psychics in Florida - is wreathed in intimations of destiny and change, strung taut between the idea of eternity and an increasing sense of urgency, as Oberst attempts to tackle the growing mountain of pressing issues facing today's sensitive liberal songwriter, from global warming and social disintegration to destructive fundamentalism, while retaining some clear notion of his own history and place. It involves a whistle-stop tour of America, from Cassadaga itself to the Dakota badlands, bloodstained scene of atrocities against Native Americans, and from Babylonian Los Angeles to "the new pyramids down in old Manhattan", where "from the roof of a friend's, I watched an empire ending".

It would be wrong, though, to imagine this is a sombre album. True, "No One Would Riot for Less" has the hushed mood of early Leonard Cohen, and "Middle Man" the haunted tone of a traditional ballad; but for the most part Oberst's natural ebullience is reflected in the rousing country-rock arrangements of violin, guitar and organ, exemplified by the infectious, singalong single "Four Winds", where the see-sawing fiddle tugs the song along in the manner of The Waterboys.

A host of alt.rock friends, including M Ward, Rachael Yamagata, members of Sleater-Kinney, Rilo Kiley and Tortoise, and Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, help out on Cassadaga, but not in the manner of glittering adornments familiar from exercises such as the Timbaland album. Few are recognisable through the music alone, and all strive to conceal themselves for the good of the material, which is understandable with material this good. After all, who'd want to trample over lines as wise as "Every dream gets whittled down/Just like every fool gets wise"? Wise words, indeed.