"It's a meaningful way to connect with the past that doesn't feel totally nostalgic and self-indulgent," says Conor Oberst of the forthcoming Bright Eyes reissue project. "We are taking these songs and making them interesting to us all over again. I like that. I like a challenge. I like to be forced to do something that's slightly hard, just to see if we can." "Just to see if we can" could be the unofficial motto of Bright Eyes, the band Oberst founded as a teenager and plays in with two of his oldest friends, multi-instrumentalists Mike Mogis and Nate Wolcott. "We've never made the same record twice," the singer says. "I'm proud of that." From warm folk-rock to austere electro, plaintive, earnest ballads to glacially cool guitar noise, Bright Eyes has tried on pretty much every sound that's ever inspired them, just to see if they could. Along the way they've collaborated with many of their influences, heroes, and peers, from Gillian Welch and Emmylou Harris to Jenny Lewis, Nick Zinner and Britt Daniel. And they've seen their songs covered by many more, including Lorde, The Killers, and Mac Miller.

1 If Winter Ends
2 Padraic My Prince
3 Contrast and Compare
4 The City Has Sex
5 The Difference in the Shades
6 Touch
7 June On the West Coast
8 Pull My Hair
9 A Poetic Retelling of My Unfortunate Seduction
10 Tereza and Thomas