Originally published in The
Aquarian Weekly
Okkervil River/The Stage Names
Jagjaguwar Records
The Austin-based Okkervil
River created a lot
of buzz with
their 2005 album, Black
Sheep
Boy. That album was
full of raw,
intense internal
exploration by
songwriter Will Sheff. The band
returns with their fourth
album,
and this time Sheff is determined
to have some fun.
This is one of those
albums
that contain a number of
disparate elements. It’s
acoustic,
it’s electric, there’s
an orchestra,
some Motown, a little
girl group
stuff, and lots of pop
culture
references. It drips with
eclecticism, but it doesn’t
always
add up to a cohesive
whole.
Among the more
successful
efforts are the charming
“Savannah Smiles”
and Sheff’s
tribute to the poet John
Berryman
in “John Allyn Smith Sails”, which
serves as an example of
the diverse
nature of the album by
including a
take on The Beach Boys’
classic
“Sloop
John B”.
In A Word: Multicolored
Grade: B
—by Ken Shane