Ruminations
As raw and emotionally direct as Oberst has ever sounded. *Ruminations* finds the singer/songwriter on his own for a set of stark and often unsettling folk—captured over two wintry days in his Nebraska home, following the discovery of a cyst on his brain. “They say a party can kill you,” he sings on “A Little Uncanny,” amid a blur of harmonica and brittle acoustic guitar. “Sometimes I wish it would.”
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. Oberst went to ARC, the studio he built with his Bright Eyes bandmate and friend Mike Mogis, and, with the help of engineer Ben Brodin, recorded all the songs within 48 hours. The results are almost sketch-like in their sparseness: 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 *is a record like none other in Conor Oberst’s catalog, stunning for how utterly alone he sounds.
Whether he’s going aggro-punk, as on last year’s Desaparecidos re-up Payola, or playing indie Paul Simon on lush Americana albums like 2014’s Upside Down Mountain, Conor Oberst might as well be strumming solo. The longtime Bright Eyes leader sings every song like he’s shivering on your doorstep, unburdening himself of…
Recorded in less than 48 hours with longtime collaborator Mike Mogis and engineer Ben Brodin, Ruminations sees Conor Oberst going full-on Nebraska, delivering a raw, difficult, and often beautiful set of deeply personal songs with minimal accompaniment.
Conor Oberst’s seventh solo album is his most low-key outing yet, its sparseness reflecting its unexpected nature.
Conor Oberst used to whimper, wail and howl bloody murder, but he never used to ruminate. Things have changed, though; the Omaha songwriter...
Conor Oberst's latest solo acoustic record, made in deep winter, Omaha, Nebraska, is a bleak affair.
Ruminations is prolific singer-songwriter Conor Oberst’s rawest and most earnest album in years.
'Ruminations' by Conor Oberst, album review by Jake Fox. The full-length comes out on September 14th via Nonesuch. Conor Oberst, plays 11/6 in Nashville.