Conor Oberst's new album, Upside Down Mountain, is due out next Monday, May 19 (with vinyl due to arrive May 30), on Nonesuch Records. But you don't need to wait till then to hear it. The new album is streaming in full all this week as an NPR First Listen at npr.org/music.

The new album is "artful and beautifully realized," writes NPR's Tom Moon. "Upside Down Mountain suggests that Oberst is growing, rapidly, as a craftsman. It's the first truly intimate set of songs he's offered in a while ... [H]e's brokering interior thoughts, choosing clusters of words for the ways they thrive, or sometimes disappear, inside the sonic swirl."

Moon cites the consecutive album tracks "Hundreds of Ways" and "Artifact #1" as "a stunning one-two punch, one of those rare album moments where two works grow more profound as a result of their proximity to each other."

Read more and listen to the complete album, streaming in full at npr.org.

To pre-order Upside Down Mountain, head to iTunes or the Nonesuch Store, where vinyl and CD orders include an instant download of two tracks off the album: "Hundreds of Ways" and "Governor's Ball."

Conor Oberst has kicked off the first leg of his world tour in support of the new album with Dawes as special guest, both opening the shows and acting as his band for the tour. He recently added a number of fall tour dates, taking the tour into October. For tour details, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour. Oberst will perform on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon next Monday, May 19, and on CBS This Morning: Saturday on May 24.