Boasting an impressive 5.5 million scrobbles (and thats only accounting under his current solo header, not the half dozen other bands he has been a part of,) the 34 year old American singer-songwriter Conor Oberst returns with a new solo release titled Upside Down Mountain & Last.fm has exclusive first-dibs on a live performance of the songs from the album. Conor Oberst also sets aside a few minutes to speak with us about how his process for writing songs hasn't changed, although the subject matter has; playing with Dawes as his backing band and how he keeps his music fresh through collaboration.

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, started his musical career early. His brother Matt exposed him to bands such as The Smiths, R.E.M.,Fugazi, and The Cure; then combined with his own pursuit of Singing in the school choir amongst several other groups. It is easy to connect the dots between Conor Oberst & the likes of Daniel Johnston & Elliot Smith, but Oberst has also been heavily influenced by the 1960s folk revival, citing Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, and country singers Emmylou Harris, John Prine and Townes Van Zandt as major players in his taste, writing & performance.

Fate struck however one night when Ted Stevens (Mayday;Cursive) invited Conor to join him on stage to play. Bill Hoover then did the same with conor a few weeks later. Not long after, Oberst had his own set list and set forth to establish himself as an artist, playing his own local bills & recording on his dad's four track cassette in their basement.

Those original Oberst recordings were self-released via a co-finance with his brother, Justin, on what they were calling Lumberjack Records (later to be known as Saddle Creek Records... of which the brothers are present day executives.) Conor called his 1993 debut album Water.

Next, Oberst decided to expand his entourage, recruiting four friends to form Commander Venus in mid-1995. Conor & company released several more records over the following years & continued to co-op with Hoover only to then solidify a place in history with the founding of his most familiar presence Bright Eyes in 1995.

Releasing an onslaught of songs, eps & albums under a number of titles, (not only the aforementioned but alsoDesaparecidos, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band and Monsters of Folk,) Oberst has been on nearly everyone's radar as some point or another. From Pitchfork to Rolling Stone, Oberst's emotionally drive lo-fi indie-folk songs have tugged on just about all of our heart-strings at some time or another

Throughout the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013, Oberst embarked on a solo tour of North America and Europe performing with Ben Brodin on guitar and vibraphone, not only performing old fan favorites from virtually all of his prior incarnations, but also debuting previously unassociated new songs like "Hundreds of Ways" & "Double Life".Conor Oberst - "Hundreds of Ways"

Today, Oberst releases a new solo record under his own name titled Upside Down Mountain. Working with producer Jonathan Wilson (Dawes, Father John Misty) and Swedish duo First Aid Kit, fans have already been seething with anticipation for the release of the new songs.