Who the hell are

Bright Eyes

Heave-ho: US pop-pickers must have thought the world had gone crazy when they looked at the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts early in November. Instead of the usual gangsta rappers, booty- shaking r 'n' b babes and rawk-lite rubbish, the No 1 slot was occupied by a fey, sensitive young chap named Conor Oberst. More bizarrely, this 24-year-old indie prodigy was also ensconced at No 2, completely overturning the laws of pop physics. Bright Eyes' two singles had achieved the feat of grabbing both pole position and runner-up place, knocking both Usher and Alicia Keys off the top two slots.

Dark matter: So, how did an indie/ alt.country lad from Nebraska end up topping the most commercial, radio- driven chart in the music world with not one but two songs? Listening to Lua and Take It Easy (Love Nothing), the first thing you notice is that they sound a million miles away from The Eagles' Take It Easy. This is a lo-fi anthem for dissociated young Americans, the kind of non-tune that just doesn't get playlisted on US daytime radio. Call them the Donnie Darko generation, but there's plainly an entire market demographic seeking out the odd and oblique in rock and pop. Not for them the glowering grunge of Nickelback or the rock-steady platitudes of Dave Matthews. They're listening to the troubled twenty- something sounds of The Dears, The Shins, Azure Ray and Dashboard Confessional, and watching such offbeat movies as Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite. As the porcelain poster boy for alienated alt.rock, Oberst is leading this invasion of the sensitive souls.

Star berst: Conor Oberst began his bright music career at 14, singing and playing in a band called Commander Venus. The group broke up after two albums, but the members had the foresight to set up an independent label, Saddle Creek, which has continued to thrive. Oberst released his own tunes on the label under the name Bright Eyes, using an ever-changing line-up. With his tremulous voice and disconcerting honesty, Oberst cast a spell on his young audiences, and built up an impressive following through numerous albums and EPs. His ascendancy was sealed when he was invited to tour US swing states with Bruce Springsteen and REM in a bid to drum up votes against George W. Bush. Bush won the election, but Oberst won the popular vote.

Hot Burritos: Bright Eyes will be trying to top their singles chart double whammy with the release of two albums, Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning on January 28th. Both albums feature a stellar cast of collaborators from the world of indie rock and alt.country, including Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner and sweetheart of the rodeo Emmylou Harris.