Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	76/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Consequence of Sound	B-
Drowned In Sound	9/10
NME
Paste	8.6/10
Pitchfork Media	7.5/10
Rolling Stone
Slant Magazine

Ruminations is the seventh solo studio album by American musician Conor Oberst, released on October 14, 2016 on Nonesuch Records.

On October 28, 2015, in the midst of Desaparecidos' tour for their second studio album Payola, it was announced that Conor Oberst had been hospitalized due to "laryngitis, anxiety, and exhaustion," according to a press release. The entirety of Desaparecidos' remaining tour dates were cancelled and Oberst returned to his hometown of Omaha to recuperate. Oberst would spend the coming months in Omaha, where he would go on to write and record the songs that make up Ruminations.

The songs were recorded in the winter of 2015 at ARC Studios in Oberst's native Omaha, Nebraska, with all the songs recorded in the span of 48 hours. They feature Oberst playing by himself. In a press release, Oberst described Ruminations' inception:

Described as an acoustic album, the songs on the album solely feature Oberst with a guitar, piano, and a harmonica.

The cover art features an image of Oberst playing the piano and the harmonica with a microphone and sheet music on display, marking the album's low-production and minimal instrumentation.

All tracks written by Conor Oberst.

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Wikipedia