Five Dice, All Threes is a record of uncommon intensity and tenderness, communal exorcism and personal excavation, qualities fans have come to expect from Bright Eyes nearly three decades into their career. The tight-knit band of Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nate Walcott tends to operate in distinct sweeping movements, each unique in its sound and story but unified by a sense of ambition and ever-growing emotional stakes. Even with this rich history behind them, these new songs exude a visceral thrill like nothing they have attempted before.

On the self-produced album, Bright Eyes embrace the elusive quality that has made them so enduring and influential across generations and genres, bringing their homespun sound from an Omaha bedroom to devoted audiences around the world. This time the band invites like-minded voices onto the record, with notable guest appearances from Cat Power on "All Threes," The National's Matt Berninger on "The Time I Have Left," and Alex Orange Drink of The So So Glos, who co-wrote several songs and shares a climactic verse in the surging "Rainbow Overpass."

As ever, the music comes loaded with subtext that invites deep listening, the signature touch of a band who has always honored the album as its own exalted work of art. On Five Dice, All Threes, Bright Eyes make music that feels thrillingly alive. It doesn't just sound like classic Bright Eyes. It sounds like their future, too.