So, my pal Boris sticks his head into my room while this Bright Eyes CD is playing, and says rather incredulously, "What the hell is this, emo-country?" And I say, "Uh... sure, why not?" I mean, if you're going to pigeonhole music into inadequate categories, they may as well be absurd as well as slightly accurate. Here we have an album which combines the sad, slow melancholy of such celebrated artistes as Smog and Cat Power with characteristics more in keeping with main Bright Eyes fixture Conor Oberst's former band, Commander Venus (such as tasty outbursts of random noise and his scratchy, barely on- key holler.)

What holds the whole mess together is Oberst's evocative, intelligent lyrics ("I spent a week drinking the sunlight of Winnetka, California/ Where they understand the weight of human hearts" from "June on the West Coast"), and his knack for a well- placed cathartic yell (the way he hollers, "How can I expect anyone else to give a shit?!" on "If Winter Ends"). The album's instrumentation is also varied enough to keep things interesting, with pedal steel, various and sundry keyboards, and accordions all finding their way into the mix.

Some problems: occasionally, Oberst's lyrics can get a bit ponderous and pretentious (witness "A Poetic Retelling of an Unfortunate Seduction," the title of which should pretty much say it all). Also, Oberst's aforementioned scratchy, barely on-key holler, which made listening to Commander Venus more of an endurance test than an exercise in pleasure, is definitely an acquired taste. (It really is endearing for the most part, but it'll get on your nerves when he gets all teary for the entire duration of certain tracks.)

But given the fact that Oberst isn't quite 20 years old, we'll let certain errors considering the overall quality and ambitiousness of this recording slide a bit. I mean, hell, the stuff that most otherwise talented people come up with when they're 18 is usually complete crap. So, let's just call him "one to watch for" and leave it at that.

-Jeremy Schneyer