Conor Oberst starts over at the Bottom (of the Hill), plays free at Amoeba

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August 1, 1:19 AM

by Derk Richardson, S.F. Music Examiner

 

 

Conor Oberst

Given his prodigious appetite for recording (his discography is almost too complicated to document) and touring (check out his itinerary here), it's not unlikely Oberst will find his way back to the bay in a large venue within the next year.

But fans have yet another shot at catching the warble-voiced singer-songwriter in close quarters this time around—if, that is, they can squeeze into the S.F. Amoeba Records store on Haight Street for his free performance at 3 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 2.

Oberst is touring in support of his latest CD, simply titled Conor Oberst, in stores Tuesday, Aug. 5. It's his first solo album since 1995's Soundtrack to My Movie, his first for Merge Records (home to Spoon, Lambchop, Destroyer, M. Ward and others), and his first in ages without longtime musical collaborator Mike Mogis and away from Saddle Creek Records.

I was a latecomer to Bright Eyes, tentatively signing on with the 2002 release of Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil and growing more convinced about the substance beneath Oberst's sometimes unnerving vocal quaver with each new album, especially 2005's I'm Wide Awake It's Morning (which featured guest vocals by Emmylou Harris) and last year's Cassadaga.

Sacrificing none of the raw emotional urgency that connects the singer with his generational peer group, Conor Oberst, recorded in a mountain villa (Valle Místico) in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México, further reveals the gradual maturation of its 28-year-old auteur, who sounds slightly less bruised in love, less pessimistic in social outlook (he's stumped for Obama) and more confident as a Dylan-esque lyricist and Neil Young– or Tom Petty–like rocker, fronting a fine band that includes guitarists Nik Freitas and Taylor Hollingsworth, keyboardist Nate Walcott, bassist Macey Taylor and drummer Jason Boesel.

This new CD might in fact be the only way the bulk of Bay Area fans get to hear Oberst's lastest songs for a while.

Watch Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band in Mexico: 

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