#23: BRIGHT EYES - fevers and mirrors/letting off the happiness

I know, I know...being a Bright Eyes fan NOW paints me as a hoodie-wearing, somewhat moody, tattoo considering, 17-26 year old female. Well, to set the record straight, I am by no means a female. Everything else though is much like a shoe, which I shalt wear. I should get a clipper ship tattoo that says...nevermind...here's my review:

Let me explain my relationship with "Fevers and Mirrors." I was rooming with Wes Montgomery my Sophomore year and he was a new music junkie. During that time we were very influential of one another's music, though we didn't always agree.

Agree:
He introduced me to Pedro the Lion (upcoming post teaser), I introduced him to Karate (upcoming post teaser) and Pavement (we'll see).

Disagree:
I also introduced him to Millencolin (don't repeat that) and he introduced me to the emo stylings of Deep Elm...which is to say, we our brains weren't developed completely yet. Oh, and he never fell for Danielson the way I did.

Anyway, so he would just buy anything that sounded interesting in the reviews section of Muddle magazine or Copper Press. IF, he wasn't into it (which happened a lot), he could return it to Disc Exchange in Knoxville for (I think) free. This was when we were still paying the one guy on campus with a cd burner to make mix cds for our girlfriends, so the stores weren't worried then about people just buying them and returning and returning and returning them. One afternoon, while riding up to return the cd with the young kid who's voice was ridiculously "off key" and "put on" I started reading the lyrics out loud, and we both fell for it. Later, we would see one of the top 4 shows of my entire life at the now closed Metro Cafe in DC when Wes was up for a visit. Connor and his homeboys played to a group of 7 or 8 of us that were there for him, and about 25 that were just there to drink. I was wearing a coat of my dad's that I'd found in the attic that smelled like him (I wore it even though it was too small for me).

Even when Fevers and Mirrors came out it was still hard to convince friends outside of our Art department to like it. They couldn't get past his voice.

All that to say, these albums are ridiculous pop genius...and though I know that's very unhip to say at this moment, I shall. Don't tell pitchfork. Oh, and he was like 9 when he released Letting off the happiness. Insane.