''Fevers and Mirrors'' is the third studio album by the

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

band Bright Eyes, recorded in 1999 and released on May 29, 2000. It was the 32nd release of the

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

-based record label

Saddle Creek Records Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over hi ...

. The album was released later in 2000 in the

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as the inaugural release from

Wichita Recordings Wichita Recordings is an independent record label located in London, founded in 2000 by Mark Bowen and Dick Green. Its most notable signees include Bloc Party, The Cribs, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket, Yeah Yeah Ye ...

. The album begins with a recording of a little boy reading ''Mitchell Is Moving'', a book by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat. "An Attempt to Tip the Scales" includes what is ostensibly an interview with the band's frontman,

Conor Oberst Conor Mullen Oberst (born February 15, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, the Faint (previously named Norman Bailer), Commander V ...

. However, Oberst has admitted that the interview was something of a joke, intended to poke fun at the dark tone of the album. Conor's voice is impersonated in the interview by

Todd Fink Todd Fink (born Todd Baechle – pronounced "BECK-lee" – on March 3, 1974, in Omaha, Nebraska) is the lead singer of the band The Faint. He attended Omaha's Westside High School. Career Fink was also one of four members of the band Command ...

The Faint The Faint is an American indie rock band. Formed in Omaha, Nebraska, the band consists of Todd Fink, Graham Ulicny, Dapose and Clark Baechle. The Faint was originally known as Norman Bailer and included Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes, with whom T ...

and

Commander Venus Commander Venus was an American emo band from Omaha, Nebraska. Fronted by Conor Oberst and Tim Kasher, the band also included Todd Fink and Matt Bowen of The Faint, Ben Armstrong of Head of Femur and Robb Nansel, executive producer of the i ...

. The man interviewing is Matt Silcock, a former member of Lullaby for the Working Class. The album was reissued alongside a six-track companion EP by

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans is an American independent record label formed in 2007 and based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Dead Oceans is part of Secretly Group, which also ...

on May 27, 2022.

Critical reception

The music

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'' placed ''Fevers and Mirrors'' at number 170 on its list of top 200 albums of the 2000s, despite a low initial score of 5.4/10. In 2012, ''Pitchfork''s Ian Cohen gave the reissued version of the album a 9.0 out of 10.

Track listing

Personnel

– vocals, guitar (1, 4, 6, 8, 10-12), sample (1), organs (2), Rhodes (5), keyboards (5, 12), piano (6, 7), tremolo guitar (9), percussion (11), toy piano (12) *

Mike Mogis Michael Riley Mogis (born May 16, 1974) is an American producer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who, along with his brother A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Studios (previously known as Dead Space Recording and, earlier, Whoopass Recor ...

– electric guitar (4, 9), pedal steel (6, 8), vibraphone (1, 8), tambourine (6, 8), glockenspiel (1), piano (1), Ebow pedal steel (2), electronics (2, 9), tongue drum (3), guiro (3), lap dulcimer (4), hammered dulcimer (5), atmosphere (7), acoustic guitar intro (9), organ (9), mandolin (10), keyboards (10), samples (11), percussion (11) * Todd Baechle – keyboards (3) * Tim Kasher – accordion (1, 4, 6) * Joe Knapp – drums (3, 4, 6, 8, 9), percussion (3), vocals (8) *

Jiha Lee Jiha Lee is the former keyboardist of the Good Life and has performed with Bright Eyes. Having left the Good Life after their second album, '' Black Out'', she returned to record the track "Inmates" for ''Album of the Year''. Her recordings wi ...

– flute (2, 4, 10), vocals (5) * Andy LeMaster – guitar (3), percussion (3, 6, 11), Mellotron (5, 6), bass (2, 5, 10), electric guitar (9), vocals (9-11), keyboards (11) * Matt Maginn – bass (3, 4, 6, 8, 9) * A.J. Mogis – piano (2), Rhodes (9) * Clint Schnase – drums (2, 5, 10)

Charts

References

External links

Saddle Creek Records
{{Authority control 2000 albums Bright Eyes (band) albums Saddle Creek Records albums Wichita Recordings albums Albums produced by Mike Mogis Chamber pop albums Britpop albums