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Bright Eyes have shared a new single called ‘Forced Convalescence’ – you can listen below.
- Read More: Conor Oberst on Bright Eyes’ return: “We’re notorious for not making good commercial decisions”
The song follows on from recent track ‘Persona Non Grata’, which was released last month and marked the band’s first new material in nine years.
When announcing their comeback, the band said they planned to release a new album this year “no matter what,” and that the second track from it would land at 11am ET (4pm BST) today (April 21).
“Forced convalescence and bed rest/ Staring contest/ With the ceiling and my feet/ Was momentarily conscious/ Of the backflips/ I’ve been doing in my sleep“, sings Conor Oberst in the first verse of ‘Forced Convalescence’.
Presenting the frontman’s feelings of existential angst, the single introduces joyous bursts of gospel backing vocals against swirling, lounge-y instrumentation across its four minutes.
The new track arrives with an accompanying animated lyric video – watch above.
Reviewing last single ‘Persona Non Grata’, NME called the song “a poignant soundtrack to troubling times,” adding: “[Conor] Oberst’s strength as a songwriter has long been to make the personal sound universal and the universal feel personal, and manages to do both on ‘Persona Non Grata’ – just when we needed it the most.”
Oberst recently gave NME a world exclusive interview about the comeback of Bright Eyes and their upcoming new album, insisting that, despite their nine-year hiatus, the band never officially broke up.
“Loss is a big theme on the album, of all kinds – personal and macro amounts of loss,” Oberst said. “There’s some hope in it as well and some love songs. It’s not overtly political. Like our previous records it’s personal with world views swirled together. Those things do affect one another.
“Relationships are always set against the backdrop of what’s going on out there. As we’re seeing right now, the world is very unpredictable and chaotic. That’s the human experience and the human experiment.”
The band are set to head out on an as-yet-unaffected UK and Ireland tour in support of their new album later this year. They’ll also headline September’s End Of The Road Festival.
The post Listen to Bright Eyes’ joyous new single ‘Forced Convalescence’ appeared first on NME Music News, Reviews, Videos, Galleries, Tickets and Blogs | NME.COM.
