Upside Down Mountain Conor Oberst

• 1Time Forgot04:36
• 2Zigzagging Toward the Light04:05
• 3Hundreds of Ways04:28
• 4Artifact #104:25
• 5Lonely at the Top03:45
• 6Enola Gay02:24
• 7Double Life03:57
• 8Kick03:41
• 9Night at Lake Unknown04:17
• 10You Are Your Mother's Child03:49
• 11Governor's Ball04:21
• 12Desert Island Questionnaire05:41
• 13Common Knowledge04:59
• Total Runtime54:28

Info for Upside Down Mountain

Singer-songwriter Conor Oberst's new solo album is called „Upside Down Mountain“. Upside Down Mountain features many other friends of Oberst’s, including producer Jonathan Wilson, engineer Andy LeMaster, bassist Macey Taylor, multi-instrumentalist Blake Mills, and the Swedish sibling folk-rock vocal duo First Aid Kit. What started as exploratory demos with producer-musician Jonathan Wilson at his Fivestar Studios in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, in a home Wilson rents from Oberst, became the first de facto album sessions. Returning to his native Omaha, Nebraska, Oberst kept rolling with the help of frequent collaborator, engineer, and friend Andy LeMaster at his own ARC Studios. Even more tracking followed in Omaha last November and December. Then Oberst and Wilson moved south to Blackbird Studio in Nashville.

“This is a return to an earlier way I wrote,” Oberst says of the songs on Upside Down Mountain. “It’s more intimate or personal, if you will. Even if all my songs come from the same place, you make different aesthetic decisions along the way. For me, language is a huge part of why I make music. I’m not the greatest guitar player or piano player—I’m not the greatest singer, either—but I feel if I can come up with melodies I like that are fused with poetry I’m proud of, then that’s what I bring to the table. That’s why I’m able to do this.”

Conor Oberst, voice, guitar
Jonathan Wilson, guitars, bass, drums, glockenspiel, keyboards
Nathaniel Walcott, keyboards, trumpet
Andy LeMaster, guitar, voice, percussion, drums
Blake Mills, guitars, keyboards, percussion, voice
Macey Taylor, bass
Mike Mogis, pedal steel
Joshua Grange, pedal steel
Andy LeMaster, keyboards
Corina Figueroa Escamilla, voice
Klara Söderberg, voice
Johanna Söderberg, voice
Andy LeMaster, voice
Orenda Fink, voice
Jason Boesel, drums
Omar Velasco, guitar
Scott Vicroy, saxophone
Pete Madsen, trombone
Leslie Fagan, flute
John Klinghammer, clarinet
Cully Symington, drums, percussion
Ben Brodin, vibraphone

Recorded at Fivestar Studios (LA, CA), ARC (Omaha, NE) and Blackbird (Nashville, TN)
Engineered by Bryce Gonzales (Fivestar, Blackbird), Andy LeMaster (ARC) and Ernesto Olvera (Blackbird)
Mixed by Jonathan Wilson
Mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios (Portland, ME)
Produced by Jonathan Wilson and Conor Oberst

Conor Oberst
joined his first band at the age of 13 and has been releasing music since 1993. Over the next two plus decades, he’s released cassette-only recordings, split 7-inches, and a dozen albums of uncommon insight, detail, and political awareness with his band Bright Eyes, under his own name, as a member of Desaparecidos, as leader of the The Mystic Valley Band, and with the Monsters of Folk supergroup.

I have always believed there’s salvation through music and love. At least for me. It’s gotten me through the worst of things. But I want it to be that way for the people who listen to it, too,” explains Oberst. “I feel I always make an attempt, even when writing what is a pretty depressing number, to sew some silver lining into it. I think the secret to happiness is making yourself believe that happiness is possible. The first step in overcoming anything is to believe that you can do it. So in my songs there’s always a point where something pulls you out of the hole you’re in” (Jaan Uhelszki)

Booklet for Upside Down Mountain