brighteyes
i first heard brighteyes on soundcheck on live 105 (kits fm). soundcheck is a weekly programmed by the music director that tends to play newer stuff from the college circuit and newer music that sometimes breaks on the 'alternative rock' charts. i get the feeling that he plays two types of music: stuff he likes and stuff he wants to gauge the reaction to. he played 'rest of my life' off 'digital ashes in a digital urn'. i was shocked at how truly vulnerable it was. i mean, i was moved by a song on the damn radio. what the hell is that? pecked the name into my phone and downloaded the album that night. i was impressed with the rest of the album, though none of the remaining songs had quite as dramatic an effect as 'rest of my life'. while he's certainly not the only artist i've heard that sounds like a 'solo white guy writing good songs and singing them in his bedroom with a fostex 4 track just trying to be honest' he's certainly not derivitive. i stole copies of 'lifted or the story is in the soil, keep your ear to the ground' and 'fevers & mirrors' from nicole, when she bought them. the former has higher production value (without losing the honest feel to his songs) and, to my ear, holds up to more frequent listening than 'fevers & mirrors'. 'make war' off 'lifted, or...' has a country slide guitar backdrop that makes me smile.