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Conor Oberst has explained why Bright Eyes’ forthcoming new album doesn’t talk about Donald Trump.
The band were widely praised for their 2005 protest song ‘When The President Talks To God’, which railed against then-US President George W. Bush.
Speaking to The Times, Oberst confirmed ‘Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was’, which will be released later this summer, has no mention of the current President. “Trump is a different animal from Bush,” he explained.
“Bush had an ideology and the move to war was easy to protest. But comedians say it’s hard to satirise Trump because he’s the most ridiculous version of himself to start with and I find the same with writing. How do you approach someone just so diabolical and insane?”
The Bright Eyes frontman previously told NME the group’s first record in nine years “isn’t overtly political”. Instead, he said its main themes were loss, hope and love. “Like our previous records, it’s personal with world views swirled together,” he said.
“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.”
‘Down In The Weeds, Where The World Once Was’ is set to be released on August 21 via Dead Oceans. The band confirmed full details of the record last week (June 22), as well as sharing another new song in ‘Mariana Trench’.
Meanwhile, Bright Eyes made their live return on the same day with a performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. It marked the first time the group had played together since a show at Honolulu’s Hawaii Theatre in November 2011.
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