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. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine