Bright Eyes is everywhere lately, all pretty and waif-like in glossy mags that usually promote Lindsay Lohan. Someone oblivious to the Omaha rock scene might think this rickety-voiced, masochistic post-emo folkster is new to the CD-releasing game. He's not. It's just that most folks haven't taken notice until now.

Why now? Well, Conor Oberst had the audacity to go all Guns N' Roses and release two albums on the same day: the electro-tinged Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, the superior CD and the reason for the relentless (and kinda plausible) Bobby Dylan comparisons.

I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning is a razor-sharp, accessible alt-country recording featuring appearances from a few of Conor's grooviest pals (Emmylou Harris, Jim James and Maria Taylor, among others). The cleanly produced disc is hooky enough to win over some TRL-watching trons, but its acoustic Americana is also poetic and cynical enough to retain those of us who'll loop "Something Vague" on iTunes while throwing back a PBR.

Wide Awake is a satisfying and tender listen, but what's noticeably lacking is that quivering, primal desperation and volatile impulse so palpable on previous releases. At least Conor attempts to reconcile this deficit with some twangy romantic lyricism and winningly epic (though simultaneously sparse) arrangements.

I'm betting this li'l album will be enough to prolong the media's fascination with that melancholy Bright Eyes fellow, but the moment I find my man pouting from the cover of Cosmo Girl is when I shift my respect to Dashboard Confessional. And I really despise those dudes.

-- Reviewed by Caralyn Green