Amazon.co.uk
Contrary to the hilt, Desaparecidos head honcho Conor Oberst seems to be running his career in reverse. Before
Read Music/ Speak Spanish--and though he was only born in 1980--Oberst was the callow poster boy of the alt-country set, releasing four lyrically fraught, musically mature albums as leader of
Bright Eyes. With that band on hiatus, however, Desaparecidos' debut marks a kind of splenetic regression. While most people grow out of jagged, intermittently cacophonous indie-punk, Oberst seems to have grown into it. Much of
Read Music/ Speak Spanish, then, howls and tilts like a rather grisly reincarnation of the
Pixies, or like some emo bands--
The Dismemberment Plan, say--at their most impassioned and uncompromising. Oberst's always had a feverish way with words and emotions, as Bright Eyes' superb
Fevers And Mirrors attests. And that band's subdued, tuneful settings certainly place his histrionics in a more original context. Still, it's hard not to be impressed--or at the very least winded--by Desaparecidos, and by Oberst's screeching indignation at the soulless corporate takeover of everyday American life. Cathartic stuff for everyone involved--not least the listener.--
John Mulvey
Product Description
Desaparecidos - Read Music/Speak Spanish
