I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, two separate albums, were simultaneously released on January 25, 2005, providing unequivocal proof that then 24 year-old Oberst belongs to the lineage of great American songwriters. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern American life rolled into two very different records.
I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is a country-tinged melange of Conor's finest acoustic songs, featuring guest vocal appearances from Emmylou Harris and Jim James (My Morning Jacket), whereas Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is a more produced, band-centric album featuring cameo appearances by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The songs are bursting with all of the rough edges and heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes records have earned their acclaim, while exposing a glorious new level of depth and texture to the writing and delivery. Recorded back-to-back, the albums work in tandem to elucidate both sides of Conor's recent creative output.
