Ruminations evolved out of a period of deep reflection and health issues for Conor Oberst, and was written and recorded, while snowbound and recuperating, in his home place of Omaha, Nebraska.
Much of the record is about illness; physical, as in tachycardia, or political, as on the brilliant A Little Uncanny (which thumbs its nose at the Reagan-era, drawing parallels with today and the malaise that is currently sweeping America; name-checking writers and thinkers such as the late Christopher Hitchens and Oliver Sacks, their absence making every morning "a desert".
Barbary Coast (Later) and the poetic The Rain Follows the Plow bring to mind Leonard Cohen and Neil Young. The closing song, Till St. Dymphna Kicks Us Out, is a beautiful parting glass, referencing the cosy pub in NYC East Village.
