Conor Oberst
Ruminations

Apparently, Conor Oberst did not expect at all to write a new album this time. I mean, this was not at all in his plans or intentions when he decided to 'retire' for a period of rest in Omaha, Nebraska. Only that later he told us about this winter in Omaha and how everything there during this period was paralyzed and immobile, and how this somehow inspired him, so that consequently he started staying up late playing the piano and watching the slow snow fall outside the window.

In short, he did not expect to write what is probably one of his best albums, if not the best, in that vast and ever-growing discography since the nineties and especially since he was universally considered as the 'golden child' of a new generation of songwriters with 'Bright Eyes' and at the same time one of the main representatives of the 'indie' movement of those years.

From that moment, especially after the double release in January 2005, when 'Digital Ash in a Digital Urn' and 'I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning' were released simultaneously, his career took off. There has not been a moment of pause. He went on like a machine recording new music and getting involved in more and more projects, sometimes led by him in the first person (just last year he released the latest work with Desaparecidos), other times collaborating with artists and friends more or less known in the indie music scene (just to mention two or three, Arab Strap, alt-J, Bon Iver...).

In general and without getting too specific, there are two major schools of thought regarding creativity or in any case the search for inspiration. The first considers it always central and necessary, fundamental to surround oneself with artists and other people who are somehow 'inspired' and to frequent what could be considered the right places where 'things happen'. Breathing culture, interacting with other minds, coming into contact with other people who practice some form of art. Opening up to the outer world by frequenting 'harbored' contexts. A school of thought that is perhaps in some way 'modern', perhaps not. I don't know. At first, I immediately thought of Andy Warhol, who obviously was used to being in the company of artists of all kinds and involving himself and others in every kind of creative activity. But on the other hand, he certainly wasn't the first to do something like that. Without digressing, I think of literary circles, which have a centuries-old tradition and I mean, they're something that still makes sense today, even if the publishing industries are evidently in crisis. In fact, let me tell you, apparently, speaking from personal experience, you necessarily have to be (first) part of one of these circles and associations to be considered a writer. Otherwise nothing. Nor does the opposite seem possible. That is, first writing, being a writer, and then eventually actively attending one of these places.

But let's go back to talking about schools of thought and the second, which obviously claims that the artist must necessarily go through or spend long periods of solitude. A kind of complete retreat. An ascetic journey meant to be both sober and severe, qualities that qualify this retreat in themselves and give the artist the mental status necessary to achieve what he wants and express those genuinely deep sensations and emotions.

Just to add another piece to this brief representation, there is also what could be defined as a third way. I mention it without any facileness or desire to sponsor and support the use of drugs (as I also don't consider practicing any ascetic path as something positive). I'm obviously referring to the use of these (drugs) as a tool 'to open the mind'. We could cite dozens, hundreds of examples in this sense throughout the history of rock'n'roll starting from the sixties in particular and with the spread of hippie culture up to more recent statements even from very popular artists like Damon Albarn. Not to mention the contribution of the literary world with 'The Doors of Perception' by Aldous Huxley, the experiments conducted on himself by William Burroughs and all the beatnik literature culture that insists on the positive effects of drugs for what concerns their inspiration and in general on the benefits deriving from taking them on the level of the quality of their lives.

In this case, in the case of this latest Conor Oberst album, there might be connections with the second example mentioned. Oberst lives in New York City and practically does a lot and is continuously touring in the USA or around the world, so solitude in this case, more than a real choice and having to do with the search for inspiration, is due to the need to take a break and relax. Something that turned out to be absolutely necessary after, apparently (according to some more or less reliable music press), during the work on the latest album with Desaparecidos, he was hospitalized for laryngitis, anxiety, and nervous exhaustion. In any case, this only supports the thesis that his 'buen retiro' in Omaha was in practice a real necessity to go through a period of peace.

That the result of this period spent in Omaha during the winter could become a real album, well, that was something unpredictable. 'Ruminations' (Nonesuch Records) to be released on October 14th, was written and conceived to be played by Conor Oberst alone with just his guitar, piano, harmonica, and of course his lyrics. Only later did he decide to make it an album, inevitably solo and necessarily completely acoustic, recorded at the ARC Studios (his studio, built with his companion at the time of Bright Eyes, Mike Mogis) with sound engineer Ben Brodin in only fourteen hours.

I would consider three authors, three points of reference for these ten songs recorded by Conor Oberst and in the style he used in the creation phase. Clearly, let’s be precise, the entire album is permeated by what is nevertheless his peculiar style and that is rooted in indie culture, which in turn certainly pays homage to artists like Jad Fair and especially Daniel Johnston, the greatest outsider in the history of American singer-songwriters and in a certain sense the ideal 'father' of lo-fi.

On the other hand, surely Conor Oberst was never a real 'outsider' like Daniel Johnston (assuming someone could ever be as outsider as he), his songs were never completely eccentric, crazy, psychedelic and indeed, I would consider how he (Conor Oberst) has radically innovated his style over time and especially in the last seven or eight years from that of the beginnings, becoming somehow less evocative and less inspired by true 'indie' music and culture. Apparently, he pays much less attention to details and has become much more authentic and somehow concrete. Today Conor Oberst is frankly light-years away from what was his youth idol, Robert Smith: the new album could be defined as rural or rustic, raw, naked and at the same time also somehow wild. Wild as the winter landscapes of Nebraska can obviously be.

Apart from Daniel Johnston, I thought of Bob Dylan, because - without wanting to make useless and cumbersome comparisons - in a sense, Oberst's figure has also gone through various processes of mutation, certainly not as many as the man from Duluth and yet different, but in any case, there has been an artistic growth, or in any case a turning point, and then there's the discussion regarding the voice. In neither case, would I speak of what could be defined precisely as a 'beautiful voice'. A melodious voice according to typical standards. As far as Conor Oberst, in particular, is concerned, I would say his voice could even be defined as shrill. Yet this same voice has the great ability to take on different tones and, in some way, and perhaps precisely because of what it is, tremendously expressive. Even today, there's still something moving in Conor Oberst's voice and lyrics, and his words seem to slide slow and annoying in a kind of musical confession with which he communicates his mental state and his impulses.

The third and last reference must necessarily be to Bruce Springsteen and not only because the city of Omaha is in the State of Nebraska, the one celebrated by Springsteen in one of his best albums (the best), but also because, as already mentioned, there's something wild in this album and the same in Springsteen's. Something that evidently happens inevitably when you fully come into contact with the reality surrounding you and in this case, that of Omaha and consequently that of the State of Nebraska.

But the contents of the album's songs are still very personal and relate to the fragility of the human being and his search for something that provides comfort in a kind of symmetry and empathy with the surrounding environment. There is the search for an escape from the frenzy of daily life, something that necessarily is therefore also autobiographical; there is the contrast between the desire to make music and travel around the world, to come into contact with others, with other musicians, with those who listen to your music, with any other human being and thus to open up completely to the world, and at the same time the need to stop all this, to shut oneself up like wanting to protect from the external world and from something that appears harmful, a process of self-destruction. But in this case, I would not speak of convictions or sentences, also because ultimately the very act of going out and recording this album, I want to consider it as a push towards returning and perhaps towards the new. Nothing definitive, therefore. In practice 'ruminations': cogitations. Nothing more than cogitations.