Pitchfork

Photo by Paparazzi by Appointment

For those who recall scouring eBay for $100+ copies of that holy trinity of early Conor Oberst cassettes (not me, I swear)-- 1993's Water, 1994's Here's to Special Treatment, and 1995's The Soundtrack to My Movie-- August 4, 2008 will mark a particularly special occasion. For it is on that special day that the Bright Eye'd troubadour will release a very special album, his first solo offering in some 13 years. That's like half an Oberst lifetime!

The self-titled affair contains a dozen tracks and comes at us courtesy of-- no, not Saddle Creek...nope, not Team Love either...and heavens no, not a major-- but rather Merge Records, home to longtime Oberst buddy M. Ward and something I keep hearing about called the Arcade Fire, whatever that is.

Oberst laid Conor Oberst to tape in Mexico earlier this year with help from his pal Andy LeMaster (Now It's Overhead) and a "special band" known as the Mystic Valley Band. If that sounds familiar, perhaps you noticed Conor and the Mystic Valley Band among the Austin City Limits elite or caught them live at the tail end of 2007. The new crew has also announced a couple more festival appearances in the months to come, with the promise of a tour "throughout the summer."

Oh boy, can't wait to hear "Souled Out!!!"!

Conor Oberst:

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

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band:

08-22 Leeds, England - Leeds Festival
08-24 Reading, England - Reading Festival
08-31 Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic
09-27 Austin, TX - Zilker Park (Austin City Limits)

Bright Eyes dates:

04-25 Monterrey, Mexico - Café La Iguana
04-26 Guadalajara, Mexico - Zero Fest