Record Review - 1 December 11 2002

Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst assembles his cadre of Omaha, Neb., friends and peers for a Christmas album brimming with traditional Midwestern secular piety. And who better in this post-ironic age to tackle these hoary chestnuts of spirituality and devotion than the reigning champ of indie sincerity.

A Christmas Album is not a masterpiece on par with Bright Eyes’ latest. But as an understated bit of homespun caroling, it’s a must. Oberst’s somber, sad-sack treatments of “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” and “Silent Night,” haunted by the whistling wind of a saw and the low drone of organ (or pedal steel on the latter), don’t register as effectively as “The First Noel,” which is bolstered by a wondrous, choir-led chorus. He fares even better on “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” which positively bristles, coming on like an old Irish drinking song, its martial beat offering a foundation for the bounding fiddle and fluttering flute.

Another high point is the rich, lounge-worthy cover of “Blue Christmas,” an ambling C&W-flavored tune Elvis made famous. It’s a vehicle that complements the competing threads of Oberst’s persona: the velvet croon that belies his cover-boy charisma, and the emotion-choked croak that cries for another lost boy “born in the ghetto.”

But the spotlight is stolen by Athens-spawned Omaha transplants Azure Ray, whose spellbinding delicacy on “Away in a Manger” — over a buzzing background of radio interference, muted conversation and static lo-fi drone — is breathtaking, suggesting faith and hope set against the howl of society. (Available online only from www.saddlecreek.com. All proceeds go to benefit the Nebraska AIDS Project.)??