“Bright Eyes frontman Conor Oberst benefits from going back to basics here on his latest solo album.”
““Catheter piss, fed through a tube,” Conor Oberst warbles on ‘Counting Sheep’ as if singing his own hospital charts, “blood pressure’s fine, 121 over 75…”. Oberst has mastered garage punk with Desaparecidos, formed folk supergroups and covered country, psych, electronica and more with his most celebrated band Bright Eyes. For some, however, the 36-year-old is at his most radiant alone at a piano ”
“Ruminations is a record like none other in Conor Oberst’s catalog, stunning for how utterly alone he sounds.”
“Conor Oberst's seventh LP is a refreshing renewal of the anxiety-ridden intimacy that marked his earliest work with Bright Eyes nearly 20 years ago – usually just Oberst accompanied by piano, a moody harmonica and some spare acoustic finger-picking. The stakes are getting high as he bites into midlife. "Counting Sheep" addresses a recent medical scare (the diagnosis of a cyst on his brain) and beg”
“Recorded last winter in Oberst’s hometown of Omaha, ‘Ruminations’ was laid down within a period of just 48 hours, which isn’t surprising given how stripped down it sounds. With just his acoustic guitar, piano and harmonica in tow, ‘Ruminations’ is the result of timely happenstance: having never intended on writing during this time, he ended up with “more than enough songs for a record” the results”
