The Observer, September 28, 2007
Volume XL, Issue 5
Okkervil River crafts poetic, tuneful new album
Will Sheff is a songwriting force. Upon close examination of the lyrics to Okkervil River's new album, The Stage Names, one will find nine unique stories, drawn from the perspectives of characters from all walks of life, often told in a stream of consciousness style (and even including parenthetical asides). This is but one of the many characteristics that helps this brilliant record stand out from many of its fellow indie rock peers.
Although Sheff may front the band, the album is largely a group effort, and while the lyrics have the potential to carry the album on their own, the music elevates it to a far greater level. The melodies are simple but catchy, and the performances are earnest and heartfelt. The tune of the gorgeous "A Girl in Port," for example, is hardly anything groundbreaking, but it will be stuck in any listener's head after hearing it; its emotive power and slow crescendo grab the heart and don't let go. In addition, there are all sorts of musical flourishes that further make the record what it is: the shakers that drive the rhythm of "Unless It's Kicks," the thunderous bass drums in "Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe," and the glockenspiel in "Savannah Smiles" all add to the record, not to mention the horn and string flourishes that garnish the entire album.
Still, as much of a group effort as the album is, Sheff still stands high and tall as the frontman; his lyrics are tremendous. In between making statements on life ("It's just a life story/so there's no climax,") and writing character sketches (such as "Savannah Smiles," a fictional account of the father of infamous porn star Savannah, finding out about his daughter's suicide), Sheff is injecting these lyrics with his somber and emotive vocal delivery. He may not be TV on the Radio's Kyp Malone, but his pipes get the points across, and sometimes go beyond that, most notably with his powerful caterwauling at the end of "Unless It's Kicks." While most of his songs deal with serious issues, Sheff sprinkles in a good deal of humor to keep the album from becoming too overbearing. "Plus Ones" is a treat for connoisseurs of pop music, with references to being "nine miles high" and shedding a "97th tear."
Of course, no review of this album is complete without mention of its greatest moment, "John Allyn Smith Sails." The song deals with the suicide of poet John Berryman (previously alluded to in The Hold Steady's "Stuck Between Stations"), from the poet's point of view as he makes his final leap off of the Washington River Bridge in Minneapolis. Sheff treats the heavy subject matter with a casual tone; Berryman doesn't quite want to leave this Earth, but he feels that it is what must happen.
But the song's true brilliance comes in at the final, epic buildup; the chords change and the melody becomes somewhat familiar – and then it hits as Sheff sings a line familiar to all who have listened to popular music in the last forty years – "This is the worst trip I've ever been on." Yes, the band begins playing The Beach Boys' timeless classic, "Sloop John B," with Sheff's own lyrics personalizing the song. With this, Okkervil River has flawlessly taken a classic tune about a doomed sea voyage and reinvented it as a modern classic about a depressed poet. All of these aspects add up to one of 2007's best indie records, and a must-own for anyone with even a fleeting interest in modern indie rock.
