Conor Oberst seems to have finally grown up. Gone are the slightly irritating idiosyncrasies, the poor production and the overwhelming ego that have often marred his output to date. ‘Hot Knives’ is well written, highly polished, with a fully functioning band that contributes almost as much as Mr Oberst himself. Unfortunately, much to our surprise, it turns out that we actually rather liked his previous egotistical doodlings, and this just sounds a bit too much like every other studio-produced band on the block, albeit with a few more strings and some slightly wonky vocals. Luckily the flip side of the single, ‘If The Brakeman Turns My Way’, is much more like the Conor Oberst we used to love and hate (and, perhaps, loved to hate), like Neil Young with an alt-country chorus thrown in for good measure. Thank heavens for that.
