After a few years away from his first and best-known moniker, Conor Oberst has readied a new Bright Eyes album, The People’s Key, due February 15 from Saddle Creek. After 2007’s Cassadaga, the singer/songwriter released albums with Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band and Monsters of Folk. I suppose we’ll know for sure if the break from Bright Eyes was worthwhile come February.

The People’s Key was recorded in Omaha with now-permanent band members Nathaniel Walcott and Mike Mogis, who also produced and co-engineered the album, and will feature a few guest appearances from members of Autolux, Cursive, Now It’s Overhead, and The Faint.

Along with news of the LP comes word of two major 2011 Bright Eyes shows: March 9 at Radio City Music Hall, New York City, with Superchunk, and June 23 at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Pre-sale tickets will be available for both starting tomorrow at noon EST.

The People’s Key –
1 Firewall
2 Shell Games
3 Jejune Stars
4 Approximate Sunlight
5 Haile Selassie
6 A Machine Spiritual (In The People’s Key)
7 Triple Spiral
8 Beginner’s Mind
9 Ladder Song
10 One For You, One For Me