The Faint, Bright Eyes and Cursive all began the same year: 1995.

Call us fools for not doing this podcast one year from now for a 20-year retrospective, but 1995 laid the groundwork for two decades of their hegemony within Omaha music.

In the past eight months, Tim Kasher, Conor Oberst and The Faint have all released albums which bottle their most prime qualities. Adult Film, Upside Down Mountain and Doom Abuse confirm those characteristics listeners have most enjoyed about these musicians, and dispense with the tangents and experiments that naturally perked up along the way.

It’s boring and reductive just to say these three musical juggernauts have all grown up. They’ve been at it for a while, yes, but what their new albums have in common is perceptible ease, accessibility and utter professionalism.

So why are they hitting this golden hour now? What chapter are we in with Oberst, Kasher and The Faint? Why do the voices of these now-mid-career artists still resonate so resoundingly? And why are we still talking about them?

Listen up: