Merge to release Conor Oberst solo album

As if there isn't enough going on at Merge Records these days, the Chapel Hill-based label has scored a strange little coup.

Merge will release a self-titled solo album from Conor Oberst on August 5. I call this strange because Oberst, for whatever reason, has chosen not to release the album on Saddle Creek Records, which helped make Bright Eyes a big name (and vice versa), or even Team Love, his very own label.

Whatever, new music is good music.

For the album, Oberst retreated to Tepoztlán, Morelos, México, where he recorded with a whole new band. Oberst will tour this summer with The Mystic Valley Band in support of the album.

Here's the album's track list:
1. Cape Cañaveral
2. Sausalito
3. Get-Well-Cards
4. Lenders In The Temple
5. Danny Callahan
6. I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital)
7. Eagle On A Pole
8. Moab
9. NYC – Gone, Gone
10. Valle Místico (Ruben's Song)
11. Souled Out!!!
12. Milk Thistle

In other Merge news, She & Him, a project of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, will perform on Late Night with Conan O'Brien tonight. Trust me, they're worth staying up late for.