AMG Review of Digital Ash in a Digital Urn

Stephen Thomas Erlewine
All Music Guide

Digital Ash in a Digital Urn is designed to be the musical polar opposite to the simultaneously-released I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning, to be the ambitious, modernistic electronic record that stands in contrast to the sepia-toned, classicist acoustic LP. The production and arrangements may have changed, but Conor Oberst's preference to lyrics over music remains the same. Nevertheless, there is more variety and dynamicism on Digital Ash, which makes it a more interesting listen than its companion, even if it's hard not to escape the feeling that the album is Bright Eyes' take on the Postal Service's Give Up.