Conor Oberst: "Conor Oberst"

[That Skipping Rope.]

We'd venture to say that all Bright Eyes productions are essentially solo projects, but now Conor's going by his given name instead. At least for one self-titled album -- his first solo effort in 13 years -- due out on Merge at the end of the summer. Who can blame him after the tepidness that was Cassadaga. (Although, Rolling Stone just named him the Best Songwriter of 2008 so at least now you know it's not true.) Starting anew, though still sporting the same promo shot, Oberst recorded the dozen tracks in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México between January and February '08. Merge gives it to us mystical: "In Tepoztlán, a place known for Aztec Magic and Extra-Terrestrial Sightings, a temporary studio was created in a mountain villa called Valle Místico at the outskirts of town." On the album, he's appropriately backed by the Mystic Valley Band. Conor, give DevBan his band back. Check the tracklist:

01 "Cape Cañaveral"
02 "Sausalito"
03 "Get-Well-Cards"
04 "Lenders In The Temple"
05 "Danny Callahan"
06 "I Don't Want To Die (In The Hospital)"
07 "Eagle On A Pole"
08 "Moab"
09 "NYC - Gone, Gone"
10 "Valle Místico (Ruben's Song)"
11 "Souled Out!!!"
12 "Milk Thistle"

We are really looking forward to "Souled Out!!!" ... And does "NYC - Gone, Gone" mean he moved? On the road:

8/22 - Leeds, England @ Leeds Festival
8/24 - Reading, England @ Reading Festival
8/31 - County Laois, Ireland @ Electric Picnic
9/27 - Austin, TX @ ACL Music Festival

Conor Oberst is out 8/5 on Merge.

Posted at 1:21 PM

stereogum.com/archives/conor-oberst-releasing-solo-album-playing-solo-sho_009267.html#more

[That Skipping Rope.]

[backintime]

The video for "Souled Out!!!":

www.rollingstone.com/videos/player/22258295

[backintime]

Billboard review:

Conor Oberst
CONOR OBERST
Release Date: Aug. 5
Producer(s): Conor Oberst
Genre: ROCK
Label: Merge

For the first time in 13 years, indie idol Conor Oberst has shucked his Bright Eyes moniker to release a solo album under his given name. The self-titled set was recorded in Tepoztlán, Mexico, a center of bizarre happenings and Aztec magic. But despite the foreign climes, "Conor Oberst" doesn't sound much different from any of Bright Eyes' acoustic material, except that it is lacking in the bare honesty of his earlier albums. Country-infused tracks like the honky-tonk "I Don't Want to Die in the Hospital" and the Dylan-esque "Get-Well-Cards" are perfectly pleasant, but the slow, finger-picked closer "Milk Thistle" is a real highlight, as its early Americana simplicity seems to connect with Oberst. It's a reminder of the depth he's capable of but doesn't quite deliver here.—Lavinia Jones Wright

[backintime]

Rolling Stone gave the album 3.5 stars.

On last year's Cassadaga, Conor Oberst left his home in New York to wander the country's byways. On his latest album, recorded in Mexico, the Omaha, Nebraska, native is still drifting, having ditched both his Bright Eyes moniker and longtime producer Mike Mogis. A rough-hewn, death-haunted travelogue, this set proves that while you can run from home, you can't run from yourself. And sometimes that's OK. Largely, this is the introspective folk rock of Bright Eyes, though there's some welcome shift away from autobiography: "Danny Callahan" is about a doomed child, and "I Don't Want to Die (In the Hospital)" is a piano-driven rave-up whose narrator could be Oberst's grandfather. The sketchbook Americana is framed by two lean acoustic tracks: "Cape Canaveral" is a vivid postcard that begins with knuckles knocking on a guitar; "Milk Thistle" pays tribute to an herbal cirrhosis treatment. But the keeper is "Moab," a runaway's anthem that insists "there's nothing that the road cannot heal." Even with gas at more than four bucks a gallon, Oberst makes the myth as seductive as ever.