In the winter of 2016, Conor Oberst found himself hibernating in his hometown of Omaha after living in New York City for more than a decade. He emerged with the unexpectedly raw, unadorned solo album Ruminations, available October 14, 2016, on Nonesuch Records. “I wasn’t expecting to write a record. I honestly wasn’t expecting to do much of anything. Winter in Omaha can have a paralyzing effect on a person but in this case it worked in my favor. I was just staying up late every night playing piano and watching the snow pile up outside the window. Next thing I knew I had burned through all the firewood in the garage and had more than enough songs for a record. I recorded them quick to get them down but then it just felt right to leave them alone,” says Oberst. Ruminations is available to pre-order now from iTunes and from Nonesuch, where a limited number of pre-orders will include a signed print. Oberst will perform songs from the album at a handful of special solo shows this fall at venues including Carnegie Hall and the Ryman Auditorium; complete tour dates are below.
Oberst began publicly releasing music in 1994 at the age of 14. Those early recordings, made in Omaha on four-track cassette by Oberst and his friends, were an introduction to the work of a prodigious songwriter whose creative outpouring would soon be widely lauded. Writing and recording prolifically over the next two decades, first with his band Bright Eyes and later under his own name—and at special moments as a member of Desaparecidos and Monsters of Folk—Oberst became known, the Los Angeles Times said, as an artist who “sees the world with fresh and fearless eyes.” The Times continued, “He weaves his findings into intimate songs whose melodies are as timeless as a hymnal and whose images are hauntingly poetic….He can command your attention with long narratives that have more words than a pocket dictionary, or stop you cold with a single line.”
In Nebraska last winter, songs that hark back to that earlier era unexpectedly began to take shape. Oberst went to ARC, the studio he built with his Bright Eyes bandmate and longtime friend Mike Mogis, to record that music. With the help of engineer Ben Brodin, he recorded all the songs in the span of 48 hours. The results are almost sketch-like in their sparseness, and they ultimately became the songs that comprise Ruminations. These tracks do not have the multi-layered instrumentation of the most recent Bright Eyes and solo albums: This is Oberst alone with his guitar, piano, and harmonica; the songs connect with some of the rough magic and anxious poetry that first brought him to the attention of the world, while their lyrical complexity and concerns make it obvious they could only have been written in the present.
Ruminations Track List:
1.Tachycardia
2. Barbary Coast (later)
3. Gossamer Thin
4. Counting Sheep
5. Mamah Borthwick (A Sketch)
6. The Rain Follows the Plow
7. A Little Uncanny
8. Next of Kin
9.You All Loved Him Once
10. Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out
Conor Oberst has several live dates, including intimate solo performances in November and December. Due to popular demand, a second Los Angeles live date has been added in December. All tour dates below.
Conor Oberst Live Dates:
August 18 – Grand Island, NE @ 309 N Pine Street
August 20 – Lyons, CO @ Rocky Mountain Folks Festival
September 28 – San Luis Obispo, CA @ Fremont Theatre
October 1 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
October 2 – Pomona, CA @ The Glass House
October 3 – Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
October 5 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing Company
October 7 – Dallas, TX @ Granada Theater
October 8 – Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
November 6 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium *
November 17 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall *
November 23 – New York, NY @ Carnegie Hall *
November 26 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT) *
November 27 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall (SOLD OUT) *
December 9 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian Church *
December 10 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Cathedral Sanctuary at Immanuel Presbyterian Church (SOLD OUT)
*Solo shows
Miwi La Lupa supporting 9/28 & 10/1
Anna McClellan supporting 9/28
Jim James supporting 10/1
Pearl Charles supporting 10/2-10/7
Simon Joyner supporting 11/23
