#upsidedownmountain

My love affair with Conor Oberst has been re-kindled. I know, how could it have ever been gone? After all, his music is far from fleeting. Oberst has always been a musician of simple chords and well-written lyrics. He creates poetry that builds archetypes of romantic drunks, politicians, lovers, friends, etc, and transcends them to a motif that resonates inside his audience. In my first listen of Upside Down Mountain, I had no feelings toward the album. I was convinced I didn’t like it. There was no long-winded opening because this was not a Bright Eyes album. There was nothing country about it because it was not a Mystic Valley album, and all the in between just felt frightening.

Conor Oberst has grown up, and for the first listens I felt I had not made the same mature transitions. His music has been a great part of my life since I was a teenager, and throughout a handful years apart, I wanted to say I had also been transformed from confusion and apathy to an emphatic adult. And I finally understood his album when I listened from end to front. Lyrically, Upside Down Mountain delves into stories of growth. Musically, the composition and delivery of his melodies turns the album into one of the most charismatic and completed albums Oberst has ever made. Though I may not have gotten to a certain level of maturity, this album reminds me of all I have traveled, the endurance it took, and the happiness and pain that occurred to lead me to the  moment in which I am currently living. So, “…when you get there. You'll know why you did…You’ll be glad you did.” (from the song Double Life)