Bright young thing awakes

Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake It's Morning

(Herald rating: * * * * *)

Bright Eyes Digital Ash In A Digital Urn

(Herald rating: * *)

It's A brave artist who names himself after an Art Garfunkel song and a braver one still who instantly risks the tag "the new Dylan" with his folk chords, protest stance - he was the youngest on the Vote of Change tour in the United States and he's heading here to support R.E.M. next month - and witty, literate lyrics.

Bravest thing of all? Bright Eyes - aka Conor Oberst, 24, of Nebraska, and backers - has released two albums at once, a move that's been the undoing of many a poor boy.

Though it worked out well for Oberst when he did it with a couple of simultaneous singles - Take It Easy (Love Nothing) from Digital Ash and Lua from I'm Wide Awake took the No 1 and 2 positions in the American singles charts late last year.

That undoubtedly caused much head-scratching around the boardrooms of America's music corporations - Oberst releases his album through Saddle Creek, an indie label he helped establish as a young teenager.If that means artistic freedom and being as prolific as he likes, he's not without focus. Digital Ash, as its name suggests, is Oberst as moody electropop artist, singing chiming synths and humming drum machines and the scratchy guitar of Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

It would be wrong to assume that because I'm Wide Awake is his folk album of "real" songs that Digital Ash is a hard-drive-as-scrapbook affair. But it's a patchy, slightly aloof affair, although there are some solid songs among the moody dozen, with the likes of that aforementioned single I Believe in Symmetry and Devil in the Details showing that this new Bob Dylan might also be the new Robert Smith. But where Mr Eyes shines brightest is on his acoustic guitar-framed set I'm Wide Awake ... , an album that marries Oberst's command of folk, country and pop fundamentals to his wry lyricism.

It rambles with utter confidence and charm from the the rousing opener At the Bottom of Everything all the way through to his Beethoven-inspired Road to Joy.

Along the way there are three Gram Parsons-evoking duets with Emmylou Harris, lovely spare finger-picked balladry on the drug ditty Lua and First Day of My Life.

And there's Train Under Water, which sounds like the best song Lloyd Cole never wrote.

Yes, he's probably too smart, too pretty and way too qualified for his own good to be the new Bob. But the heart and humour of I'm Wide Awake means you can't help but take a real shine to him and his silly name.

Label: Saddle Creek/ FMR