Weekly Release Spotlight: Okkervil River

Posted on 9/07/2008

Okkervil River

The Stand-Ins

[Jagjaguwar]

It's fitting that the first artist to receive the relatively newborn Weekly Release Spotlight accolade twice here at Radio K is Austin's Okkervil River, as their new record The Stand-Ins is an alleged sequel to their previously K-praised release The Stage Names. Retaining similar lyrical themes as well as incredibly satisfying cinematic crescendos, it shows us all over again why we fell in love with the band in the first place. And while the songs here also originate from the same recording sessions of that very critically acclaimed album, gone should be the stigma of a B-sides collection or a disappointing money-motivated Hollywood follow-up. No, The Stand-Ins is the Dark Knight of the indie rock world.

Artistic, profound, and even quietly intimate amongst its dramatic musical fireworks, band leader Will Sheff is the singer-songwriter version of Christopher Nolan. Where The Stage Names proved to the blogosphere that Okkervil River wasn't just an above average modern folk band with a tinge of twang, The Stand-Ins confirms their place in the pantheon of fully realized auteurs. The masterful climactic swells reel in anyone with a heart, the balance between balladry and rockers attracts a strong spectrum of pop fiends, and Sheff's inscrutable literary prowess (not to mention his achingly honest delivery) challenges the mind just as much as the group's instrumentation wriggles its way into your bones.

For the uninitiated that may be skeptical of such spectacle, The Stand-Ins reminds us of the inherent need for bluster when chronicling the journey of tragic characters spending their lives finding meaning through performing. "There might just be another star this high and far in some other sky," Sheff begins on "Lost Coastlines," and the interminable quest for something unreachable will continue throughout the record. "Pop Lie" shows a rowdy and concise side of the band's epic thesis and "Blue Tulip" sprawls out its pain through miles of reverb, while "Calling and Not Calling My Ex" is a classic mid-tempo Okkervil number of desperation and uncertainty. Like that other much-ballyhooed sequel of 2008 demonstrated, where the hero begins and ends is not a question that can be answered with just one story.

Written by Chris Polley, Radio K volunteer and host of Now Like Photographs.