Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
by Bright Eyes
Metascore
66

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 28
  3. Negative: 3 out of 28
  1. Alternative Press
    100
    Riskier but not totally out of character; it's the more holistic right brain to Wide Awake's rational left brain. [Feb 2005, p.81]
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  2. New Musical Express (NME)
    90
    A painfully honest, emotionally draining album. [22 Jan 2005, p.49]
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    88
    A bold, essential chapter in this young man's inspired body of work.
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  5. Filter
    88
    There are a few failed experiments... but these failures are punctuated by astounding moments. [#14, p.95]
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  6. Stylus Magazine
    83
    Digital Ash offers enough swelling, androgynous moments to approach its hype, or at least keep up with its release partner.
  7. Uncut
    80
    The songs are neither dogmatic nor whacked out. Like fine pop writers before him, Oberst's simply wrestling with something troubling he feels thick in the air. [Feb 2005, p.72]
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  8. The A.V. Club
    80
    Mark[s] a remarkable progression from Oberst's teen troubadour origins.
  9. Neumu.net
    80
    Not as consistent as its de facto partner, Digital Ash still contains several euphoric highs.
  10. Urb
    80
    Bright Eyes' foray into the digital domain is among the more interesting experiments of this young year. [Mar 2005, p.109]
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  11. Pitchfork
    72
    Digital Ash has the claustrophobic feel of a singer locked up with a computer, and it's distractingly chipper, like Rilo Kiley in their own Dntel homages; not every Bright Eyes record has to be an emotional epic, but Digital Ash feels like a practice run.
  12. Drowned In Sound
    70
    This is not a classic – each high is paired with a low of similar scale, so whilst ‘Down In A Rabbit Hole’ scales heights previously thought unreachable, ‘Ship In A Bottle’, with baby samples screeching over the top of the most base-level beats, is plain annoying.
  13. Junkmedia
    70
    The found sounds on Digital Ash can seem an affected and unnecessary embellishment in certain places.... But in other places they work.
  14. Delusions of Adequacy
    70
    Despite all the bleeps and blurbs of this album’s electronic window dressing, it’s still Oberst’s emo-tive honesty and lyrical daring that makes up for the album’s forgettable moments.
  15. Entertainment Weekly
    67
    Oberst's tunes are too lumpy to accommodate the smoothness demanded of synth-pop, and the cumulative effect is often dreary. [4 Feb 2005, p.130]
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  16. ShakingThrough.net
    66
    Over-produced and (regrettably) heavily dependent on synth-powered '80s grooves.
  17. Village Voice
    60
    Up against the carefully realized Wide Awake, Digital Ash is a mess, and not just sonically.
  18. Playlouder
    60
    There's an 80s Anglophilic feel throughout, and like the era they're paying homage to it's all very hit and miss.
  19. Rolling Stone
    60
    The good songs don't start kicking in until about halfway through, after many synth glitches and botched break beats. But once it gets going, it's phenomenal.
  20. Tiny Mix Tapes
    60
    Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is a weepy response to the Postal Service.
  21. PopMatters
    60
    It tips its hand too early, frontloading its best songs and rendering the second half excessive and ponderous.
  22. Blender
    60
    Mostly, these electro trances... sound like an ill-advised quest to make a Williamsburg version of Dark Side Of The Moon. [Mar 2005, p.132]
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  23. Spin
    58
    Most of Digital's songs seem somewhat suffocated. [Feb 2005, p.85]
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  24. Q Magazine
    40
    Experimental and confusing... Oberst's voice struggles to hit home through the effects. [Jan 2005, p.129]
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  25. The Guardian
    40
    A stark collection of early 1980's keyboard melodies and anxious guitar solos, Oberst's dark dreams are numb with death and paranoia.
  26. AllMusic
    40
    Ultimately, it's hard not to feel that this album is little more than a blatant attempt to ape the Postal Service's Give Up.
  27. cokemachineglow
    36
    Urn is a chore.
  28. Austin Chronicle
    30
    Digital garnishment works for Wilco, but not so much for the beat-impaired Oberst.
  29. Mojo
    20
    Ghastly. [Feb 2005, p.102]
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Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Most Discussed Album of 2005

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 86 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 86
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 86
  3. Negative: 9 out of 86
  1. idleasis
    Mar 11, 2015
    9
    Great progression in his work, like graduating college after finishing telling your story from the soil, analyzing your roots, and nowGreat progression in his work, like graduating college after finishing telling your story from the soil, analyzing your roots, and now becoming comfortable in who you are, even it's ashes in an urn. You understand what happened now and understand why you are the way you are (for now) and do the things you do. You might apologize for staring in the vacuum from the back porch of your mind, while ignoring friends who left open invitations, and all the white lines, touching girls from class, where you learned our history has been pointing guns at everything that moves. Now you are hurrying to your death, but when it's easy,lucky,and free before ending up with a condo on the coast trying to get that same feeling, however. You might end up in New England or the Paris of the South, or end up in a Cassadaga of sorts, but you never thought of running, your feet just led the way. This is where you were when you had incomplete's and hooded sweatshirt walks.… Full Review »
  2. Volkenstein
    May 22, 2014
    9
    The fact that Cassadega is the 2nd highest rated B.E. album tells you something about the poor musical sensibilities of most reviewers.The fact that Cassadega is the 2nd highest rated B.E. album tells you something about the poor musical sensibilities of most reviewers. Admittedly, though, I can understand the widely varying ratings and debate over the "quality" of this record. Most Bright Eyes/Oberst fanatics will dismiss it because it's not "Wide Awake" enough, folky enough, or pained enough - the fact of the matter is, though, that objective observers who give the album a chance will fall in love. Despite the electronica overshadowing Bright Eyes' typically overt emotional pleas, I feel that it is actually Bright Eye's most sincere album, mainly because Oberst seemed to ignore the expectations and create a sonically beautiful album first, and worry about how people would interpret his message second. He just seemed to be caught in a "I don't give a **** I'm going to make this album" moment, and the result is his most unique offering. And just like any other album (but especially for this album) you must listen with headphones for the first time to fully appreciate the spectrum of sound. I pity those that can't see the greatness in this album.… Full Review »
  3. HelloIsuppose
    Sep 6, 2013
    9
    Wow, just wow. This is absolutely beautiful! Possibly my favorite album by bright eyes, I just can't believe it's taken me so long to stumbleWow, just wow. This is absolutely beautiful! Possibly my favorite album by bright eyes, I just can't believe it's taken me so long to stumble across it!… Full Review »
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