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

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

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

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

-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 his ...

. 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 Yea ...

. 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 (band), Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos (band), Desaparecidos, the Faint (previou ...

. 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 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 Commander Venus, which was started by Conor Oberst i ...

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 (band), Brig ...

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 Lullaby for the Working Class was an indie folk rock band from Lincoln, Nebraska, active from the mid-to-late 1990s. Fronted by Omaha, Nebraska singer-songwriter Ted Stevens (of the bands Mayday and Cursive), the group also featured multi-instrum ...

. The album was reissued alongside a six-track companion EP by

Dead Oceans Dead Oceans, Inc., is an American independent record label founded in 2006 and based in Bloomington, Indiana. History On June 30, 2006, Phil Waldorf founded Dead Oceans with Chris Swanson. Swanson suggested the name Dead Oceans, which came fro ...

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 Mike Mogis is an American producer/mixer/engineer and multi-instrumentalist who owns ARC Studios (Another Recording Company) in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha. Mike, along with his brother A. J. Mogis, A.J. Mogis, founded Presto! Recording Stud ...

– 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 Timothy J. Kasher (born August 19, 1974) is an American musician from Omaha, Nebraska, and is the frontman of indie rock groups Cursive and the Good Life, both of which are on the Omaha-based record label Saddle Creek Records. Music Slowdow ...

– accordion (1, 4, 6) *

Joe Knapp Son, Ambulance is an American band based in Omaha, Nebraska. Biography Singer/songwriter Joe Knapp recorded on albums of other bands, such as '' Fevers and Mirrors'' by Bright Eyes, before releasing Son, Ambulance's debut album—a split with ...

– 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 w ...

– flute (2, 4, 10), vocals (5) *

Andy LeMaster Andy LeMaster is an American musician, songwriter, engineer, and producer from Athens, Georgia. Now It's Overhead is the primary project for his own songwriting, while he also releases music under his own name and contributes as a co-writer on v ...

– guitar (3), percussion (3, 6, 11), Mellotron (5, 6), bass (2, 5, 10), electric guitar (9), vocals (9–11), keyboards (11) *

Matt Maginn Matt Maginn is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska. He plays bass guitar in the indie-rock band Cursive and is a frequent contributor on a number of Bright Eyes records. He was also a founding member of Slowdown Virginia. He also helps run Team Lo ...

– bass (3, 4, 6, 8, 9) * A.J. Mogis – piano (2), Rhodes (9) *

Clint Schnase Clint Schnase is a musician from Omaha, Nebraska. He played drums in the indie-rock band Cursive from 1995 until late 2006. He also recorded and toured with Bright Eyes, Lullaby For The Working Class, The Good Life, Smashmouth (Indie rock band ...

– 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