Description
The picture seems to be from the news - batons, bruises, the noise of the crowd, slogans, advertisements that drown out everything else. But it sounds as if the world itself has mixed up the letters in the words: where there should be “salvation,” there is “napalm.” Where there should be love, there is an advertising break. Everything is upside down, ironic and scary at the same time. The music seems to wink: yes, it's absurd, yes, it hurts, but it is in this chaos that a strange beauty is born - like a bruise that blooms in all shades of purple.
Design: Zach Nipper
Visualization: Rena Johnson
Recording: Mike Mogis at ARC Studios, Omaha, Nebraska
Mixing: Mike Mogis at ARC Studios, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
Audio engineering, additional recording, and production: Adam Roberts
Mastering: Brian Lee and Bob Jackson at Waygate Mastering, Cape Elizabeth, Maine, USA
Producer: Bright Eyes
Conor Oberst - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, baritone guitar, electric piano
Mike Mogis – pedal steel guitar, electric guitar, mandjo, dobro, mandolin, banjo
Nathaniel Walcott – piano, trumpet, organ, electric piano, synthesizers, mellotron, horn arrangements
Griffin Goldsmith – drums, percussion
Alex Orange Drink – vocals
Alinda Segarra – vocals
Macy Taylor – bass