Beloved band Bright Eyes have announced the second wave of releases as part of their ongoing Companions project. The project, announced in March, sees the band rereleasing their entire catalog, each album accompanied by new recordings. Out November 11 via Dead Oceans: Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground: A Companion, I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning: A Companion, and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn: A Companion.
The EPs include stellar guest performances from Gillian Welch, Dave Rawlings, Becky Stark, and Maria Taylor as well as stunning covers of “November by Azure Ray,” “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel” by Townes Van Zandt and “Agenda Suicide” by The Faint.
Today’s announcement comes with the release of three new Companion series recordings: “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will,”(originally from Lifted), “Old Soul Song (for the New World Order),” (originally from Wide Awake) and “Gold Mine Gutted” (originally from Digital Ash). The band’s re-recording flips the styles of Wide Awake and Digital Ash – recording each of those tracks in the style of the other album which were released on the same day in 2005.
Coupled with this news comes a slew of new tour dates for fall. All dates below. Bright Eyes has partnered with PLUS1 so that $1 from every ticket sold goes to the PLUS1 x Noise For Now Reproductive Health Access fund supporting access to reproductive rights and services for all. Tickets on sale Friday, August 12th at 10am local time from www.thisisbrighteyes.com
Earlier this year the band released their first wave of Companion EPs: A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997: A Companion, Letting Off The Happiness: A Companion and Fevers and Mirrors: A Companion to widespread acclaim. Like the previous series of releases, each reissue in this new wave will be partnered with the release of a Companion EP of five new recordings of songs contained on the original release plus a cover version from an artist they found particularly inspiring at the time of the original recording. The Companion series gives Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis and Nathaniel Walcott a chance to revisit some of their earlier material and re-work it entirely – with the occasional addition of some talented friends. This ambitious project will see the release of 54 new recordings over the coming year.
Bright Eyes began in 1995 as a recording moniker for a then 15-year old Conor Oberst’s work with producer/multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis. Mogis and composer/ arranger/ multi-instrumentalist Nathaniel Walcott became fully fledged members in 2006. Over the course of 23 years the music’s impact and influence has been significant; Bright Eyes’ songs have been covered by dozens of artists, including Lorde, The Killers, Mac Miller, Dave Rawlings & Gillian Welch, Phoebe Bridgers, Snow Patrol, Jason Mraz and beabadoobee. For a band that’s often been perceived as an outlier, the depth, breadth, and impact of the Bright Eyes canon is remarkable. Over the last two-plus decades, as Bright Eyes has released one after another time capsule LP’s – urgent dispatches from transcendent, fleeting eras of our collective lives – they’ve also simultaneously been assembling a robust, mature, narratively cohesive discography.
Watch Bright Eyes perform early song “Falling Out Of Love At This Volume” on The Late Late Show with James Corden
DSP/Preorder for Bright Eyes Companion Series
Tracklist for Companion EPs (new recordings)
LIFTED Or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground: A Companion
1) “The Big Picture”
2) “You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will.”
3) “Laura Laurent”
4) “Nothing Gets Crossed Out”
5) “November”
6) “Waste of Paint”
I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning: A Companion
1) “Old Soul Song (for the New World Order)”
2) “First Day of My Life”
3) “Fare Thee Well, Miss Carousel”
4) “We Are Nowhere and It’s Now”
5) “Road to Joy”
6) “Land Locked Blues”
Digital Ash in a Digital Urn: A Companion
1) “Hit the Switch”
2) “Down in a Rabbit Hole”
3) “Arc of Time (Time Code)”
4) “Ship in a Bottle”
5) “Agenda Suicide”
6) “Gold Mine Gutted”
BRIGHT EYES ON TOUR
08/12/22 – Oslo – Oya Festival
08/13/22 – Gothenburg – Way Out West Festival
08/14/22 – Copenhagen – Vega
08/16/22 – Hamburg – Fabrik
08/17/22 – Prague – Lucerna Music Bar
08/19/22 – Berlin – Astra Kulturhaus
08/20/22 – Frankfurt – Batschkapp
08/21/22 – Hasselt – Pukkelpop
08/22/22 – Amsterdam – Paradiso
08/23/22 – Cologne – Carlswerk Victoria
08/25/22 – Vienna – Open Air Arena
08/26/22 – Munich – Muffathalle
08/27/22 – Zurich – X-Tra
08/28/22 – Luxembourg – Den Atelier
08/30/22 – London – Eventim Apollo
08/31/22 – Manchester – O2 Apollo
09/01/22 – Dublin – Vicar Street
09/02/22 – Stradbally – Electric Picnic Festival
09/04/22 – Dorset – End of the Road Festival
09/05/22 – Birmingham – O2 Institute
09/06/22 – Glasgow – Barrowland
10/19/22 – Sonoma, CA – Gundlach Bundschu Winery
10/20/22- San Luis Obispo, CA – Madonna Inn
10/22/22 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young Festival
10/23/22 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young Festival
10/25/22 – Monterrey, CA – Golden State Theatre
10/26/22 – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
10/27/22 – Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theatre
10/29/22 – Las Vegas, NV – When We Were Young Festival
11/09/22 – Toronto, ON – History
11/10/22 – Montreal, QUE – Corona Theatre
11/11/22 – Providence, RI – The Strand
11/13/22 – Portland, ME – State Theater
11/14/22 – Baltimore, MD – TBA
11/16/22- Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
11/19/22 – Mexico City, MEX, Corona Capital
