BONUS: While supplies last, you’ll get a copy of the Volusia County Examiner newspaper – a special Bright Eyes edition for this release!

Imagine sitting at the Kids Table, whether that’s for prom, trying out a new SSRI, or even defacing a muralthese moments are like the highlights of the new Bright Eyes EP, Kids Table. The cover art, inspired by a game board, captures that bittersweet feeling that runs through Bright Eyes’ musicfloating between hope and realism. After their powerful 2024 album, Five Dice, All Threes, this EP feels like a fun partner to that record, yet stands alone as its own tiny world.

Most of these songs were born from the same recording sessions in Omahas ARC Studios, but they didnt all quite fit the tight vibe of the album. So, Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott decided to give these songs a special seat at the proverbial kids tablelike sharing laughs and stories around the ironing board at big family holidays, as Oberst jokes, referencing the EPs cover art.

Tracks like Kids Table and Dyslexic Palindrome feature Alynda Segarra from Hurray For The Riff Raff, building on the joyful collaborations from recent tours and their viral rendition of Lua. And while a ska song might not have been on anyone’s radar this year, 1st World Blues, co-written with Alex Orange Drink, offers a fresh take on the genre, with punchy lyrics about the decline of American society, driven by gang vocals and catchy rhythms.

The EP is sprinkled with cultural nodsmentioning Salman Rushdie, Joe Strummer, and Candace Bergen in Victory City, and Shakespeare, Guy Fawkes, and Mrs. Peacock from Clue in Shakespeare In A Nutshell.

But the real heart of the collection is the cover of Lucinda Williams 1980 song Sharp Cutting Wings (Song For A Poet). Oberst and Williams share a special musical bond, blending melancholy with hope. After a medical emergency in 2024 due to vocal issues, that was the first song Oberst wanted to sing againtrue to his love for it. This was the song I felt like singing, he shares. It became a last-minute addition that beautifully ties the whole EP together, offering a glimmer of light amid shadowsshadows of the fading American dream, and the shadows cast at that family table, where lifes stories unfold.