Bright Eyes made a "Sad Indie Mixtape"

We’ve been celebrating the return of Bright Eyes with their first album in nine years, Down In The Weeds, Where the World Once Was, with lists of 15 great covers they’ve done, and 10 great covers of their songs by other artists. Bright Eyes have been doing some list-making themselves, too; they curated a new edition of “The Sad Indie Mix Tape” on Spotify, an apt title considering many of their songs have had starring roles in similarly-named playlists by fans over the years.

Not all of Bright Eyes’ choices for this one necessarily fit the umbrellas of sad or indie, but they include songs from collaborators past and present, including Phoebe Bridgers, Red Hot Chili Peppers (bassist Flea plays on Down In The Weeds), The Felice Brothers, First Aid Kit (who they covered The White Stripes with), former Saddle Creek labelmates The Good Life, Conor’s 2019 tourmate and Team Love signee Joanna Sternberg, and Azure Ray’s Maria Taylor.

Also on the playlist are songs from classic sad favorites including Arab Strap, Nick Drake, The Cure, Broadcast, Vic Chesnutt, and Lavender Diamond, as well as Frank Ocean, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Thin Lizzy (who Bright Eyes recently covered), Roberta Flack, Lorde, Bette Midler, Big Thief, Waxahatchee, Prince, Patti Smith, Lana Del Rey, Hand Habits, Gruff Rhys, Belle and Sebastian, Aretha Franklin, My Bloody Valentine, PJ Harvey, Seam, Sonic Youth, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Spiritualized, MF Doom, Arctic Monkeys, Tracy Chapman, Aphex Twin, and more. Stream it below.