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Review
Sheff/Okkervil have yet to get the rewards they so deserve. They’re the Wilco waiting to happen. And like Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, arguably his closest comparison, Shefff sounds both world-weary and up for a fight. That said, Okkervil are a trickier, more maverick bunch than Wilco, which probably accounts for the former’s lower profile. This, their sixth album (not counting split albums with Shearwater and Julie Doiron), will surely change that. It’s their most assured and richest, yet also their most bruised and urgent, with Sheff admitting he’d imbibed "the chaotic, powerful energy" that swirled around Roky Erickson when he produced and arranged the psychedelic legend’s ‘comeback’ album True Love Cast Out All Evil last year. But if Okkervil’s palate has expanded – choir and orchestra included, and sometimes a dozen musicians play live in the room, as on Rider – it never sounds crowded or over-baked.
Rider is the most full-blooded track, with its Arcade Fire-style throb, but that’s more the exception than the rule. The album’s lead single Wake and Be Fine is more typically sinewy, but shares the prevailing mood, helpfully nailed by Sheff as "an otherworldly, maudlin mixture of innocence and doom". At their best, Okkervil is a slower-moving and murky river, full of hidden and troubled undertows. Choose between Hanging From a Hit, Show Yourself, We Need a Myth (featuring no fewer than 45 nylon-string guitars for faux-orchestral majesty) and The Rise for the album’s most beautifully heart-wrenching moment. On top, Sheff’s lyrics are as enthralling and opulent as a novel, to the point that the hardbound book I Am Very Far: The Lyrics is available too. Fifty-one literate, intense minutes long, I Am Very Far isn’t very far short of magnificent.
--Martin Aston
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Customer Reviews
The quality of each of their albums is easily comparable to their peers on the indie/folk/rock/alternative/whatever scene that has recently become populated with bands such as The National, Wilco and The Decemberists, however Okkervil River have yet to find the more mainstream appeal that their contemporaries have enjoyed.
For fans of any of the aforementioned bands, Okkervil River are an essential band to check out, and many will not leave disapointed. For those more familiar with the bands work, this album continues the bands tradition of providing a quality product. Personally it took me a couple of listens to really fall in love with this album as I have done with their previous offerings, and it perhaps lacks some of the moments of magic that Will Sheff has produced in the past (see Black Sheep Boy for a perfect example). However, this is certainly an early contender for my album of the year... not that my opinion counts for anything.
So - Will Sheff is possibly the hardest working man in show biz and the band are a force to be reckoned with in a live performance. One thing that doesn't normally change is that Will Sheff (lead singer writer, art work etc) normally writes poetry that tells a tale and fits beautifully to the music. He seems to be concentrating a lot more on the actual sound as opposed to the message with this their latest offering.
A song in point is `Show yourself' the constant repetition of the title line becomes hypnotic and is unusual for a Sheff number, but it is used to contextualise and add resonance and does work. There are nods to previous work in the shape of `Rider' and my favourite `Lay of the Last Survivor'.
Track 9 `Wake and be fine' was offered as a free download prior to release and is actually quite indicative of the flavour of this in that the drums and bass lines are much more up front than on past offerings, but he still knows how to spin a yarn with the likes of `We need a myth'.
The previous labels of folk, alt rock. Americana etc could easily be missed off from this work and just say `rock' as this is the most hard edged I have heard from Okkervill. There are some real gems on the instrumentation front too including, filing cabinet and cassette player - marvelous.
This is a good album, but is still a departure from their previous style so may not be to established fans taste, that said every single offering from them has taken their style forward or in different directions and that can only be a good thing. They are still one of my favourite bands and I await releases from them as an over eager child looks forward to Christmas, if you are yet to be introduced to this great band I suggest here may not be good a place to start, try 'The Stage Names'The Stage Names as a good introduction.
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