Bright Eyes have a comeback album on the way, but thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s not clear when the project will actually drop. Regardless, Conor Oberst and company have been releasing new songs from it, and today, they’ve returned with “One And Done.” The contemplative and apocalyptic song (which was written before the current global situation) tells the story of a singer in the midst of what appears to be the final days of life as humanity knows it.
Oberst paints a picture, singing, “This whole town looks empty but we knew it wouldn’t last / Behind bulletproof windows they’re still wiring the cash / Whatever they could scrape up, whatever that they had / There’s a lot of mouths to feed through this famine.”
Oberst recently spoke with The 1975’s Matty Healy about the new Bright Eyes album, saying, “I would say that loss is a pretty big theme in the new songs. I guess it always was to a certain extent. […] I’ve lost friends and I’ve lost people over the years, but […] when you lose one of your brothers, it’s kind of a whole different ball game when it comes to the way it impacts. It impacted me psychologically and my parents, just everybody. It’s just a life-changing event where this thing that had always been a foundation of your life is gone. Trying to pick up the pieces and move on from that, you know, it’s a hard thing.”
The band has yet to confirm a new release date for their comeback album, but they assured fans back in March that regardless of what happens, it will be out in 2020. They wrote, “We, like so many others, had many plans for 2020. We will be releasing a new album this year no matter what. We also have lots of touring plans which we are now reassessing. We will keep you informed as things progress. We very much want to get on the road and hope to see you all in person sooner rather than later.”
Listen to “One And Done” above.