Say what you will about Conor Oberst, but the singer stands out as an authentic guy. Among the fame-hungry whores of Hollywood or the beyond-coolness of New York hipsters, Oberst is living life out in the wide plains of Omaha, Nebraska—not to make a point, just because that’s where he’s from—Maybe to leverage a more normal existence. He never packed up his bags to permanent digs on either coast and that must be at least partially why his music comes across so very real—true to the day-to-day drama of regular life and universal in its resonance with the larger, unpredictable human experience.

His new album, Cassadaga, available Apr 10th on Saddle Creek records is at once aimless and destined. An album sneak peek after the jump…

The first song …