Bright Eyes' Oberst to release solo album

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Bright Eyes principal Conor Oberst will release his first solo album in 12 years on August 5.

The self-titled set, recorded earlier this year in Mexico, will be released by North Carolina-based indie Merge Records.

His last solo album was "Soundtrack to My Movies," issued on cassette in 1996 when he was a teenager. It's also his first not to be released domestically on Saddle Creek, the Omaha, Neb., label with which he's been associated since he began recording in the early '90s.

Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, the unidentified group with whom he recorded the new disc, have four dates on tap this summer: the U.K.'s Reading and Leeds Festivals (August 22, 24), Ireland's Electric Picnic (August 31) and the Austin City Limits festival in Texas (September 27).

Reuters/Billboard