The Stage Names is Okkervil River’s fourth full-length. More importantly, though, it’s the follow-up to Will Sheff and company’s most acclaimed album, 2005′s Black Sheep Boy and subsequent spin-off, the Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP. We liked the Overboard & Drown EP, too, but it was the former, really, that signaled the longstanding Austin band’s apex, inspiring some surefire Lou Reed fandom. Lifting the curtain on this new nine-song affair, Sheff’s crafted more upbeat, less ragged tunes and instead of secret messages in radio transmissions, he’s focusing on the silver screen, the images that flicker on and in front of it.
We love the endless rhymes, extended metaphors/journeys, and smarty-pants playfulness. Excellent closer “John Allyn Smith Sails” finds Okkervil one-upping the Hold Steady on the John Berryman tip with a mini-biopic that offers more details about the poet’s life than Finn musters on “Stuck Between Stations.” (John Allyn Smith was Berryman’s given name before his mother remarried.) Sheff takes the P.O.V. of Berryman before and after his suicidal leap onto the frozen Mississippi river — “From a bridge on Washington Avenue, the year of 1972, broke my bones and skull and it was memorable” ? but mixes in details about Berryman’s father’s suicide, earlier flirtations with death, academia, the funeral, etc. Sheff wins the smooth transition of the month award for concluding uproariously by shifting into “John B Sails”/”The Sloop John B,” transforming this John B. into a Beach Boy or sailor instead of a dead ‘n’ frozen poet.
Besides these sorts of smart (and sailing) references (see also “99 Luftballons,” “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover,” Chet Baker, The Seven Chinese Brothers +1, etc., in “Plus Ones”) Sheff crafts some of his best rockers to date, including the record’s opening trio of “Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe” (anyone else hear that Bright Eyes shout beside the doo-wop girls?), “Unless It’s Kicks” (drive with the top down, use shakers) and the clap-happy “A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene.” Q: Know why “You Can’t Hold The Hand Of A Rock And Roll Man”? A: It’s too busy clapping and rattling shakers. Doubtful he’s laughing at our bad joke, but the song actually includes a bona fide Sheff laugh.
It’s not all a hootenanny, though. Okkervil balladry shows on the tender, tinkling “Savannah Smiles,” a don’t-cry lullaby inspired in part the protagonist reading a page in his daughter’s diary, and the plaintively swinging, sailor-metaphor/horn-wielding “A Girl In Port,” which comes off like the Decemberists’ scoring an elegantly lonesome Tao Lin story. Pretty. Right now the only semi-dud for us is “Title Track,” which comes crammed with dramatic I-was-made-for-the-stage crescendos, faint crowd noise, film and music biz references, strings, “broken down” breakdancers, a princess, and a whippoorwill, but overstays its curtain call after about three of its five minutes.
Okay, a few other minor quibbles: The black sheep boy’s spoken about trying to make this his modern record, but to be honest the last one didn’t feel especially old-timey or distant, despite the gothic set pieces. If there’s anything wrong with The Stage Names it’s that at times it feels too distant, at times a tad too polished. Um, Will, where’s the awkward, throat splitting howls and whispered crackles? The wandering tributaries? The duct-taped feel of the transitions? Uh, the pretty harmonizing girl voice?
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i like the last song it’s got sloop john b in it. HIYO!
someone post a link to this ASAP please.
Some really great stuff coming out from these boys. I particularly like ‘Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe”
any chet baker referances get my respect! i can’t wait!
So so so so sooo good.
Black Sheep Boy is WAAAAAY better…
this is just okay for me.
Hey Ben, here’s your link:
http://www.scdistribution.com/cat/jag_catalognew.php
long overdue Stereogum! anyway, i love Black Sheep Boy but i think i love this one a little bit more just cause it’s not too heavy and a little bit more uplifting, so to speak. Savannah Smiles is wonderfully sad, though and so is John Allyn Smith Sails. that is definitely one of my favorite songs of this year.
i agree, incredibly overdue.
this is one of my favorite albums this year.
Yeah, the Stage Names is awesome. If it doesn’t propel Okkervil River somewhere, nothing will. Will Sheff is a lyrical genius.
“Unless It’s Licks,” “A Girl In Port”, and “John Allyn Smith Sails” are some of my most played songs right now.
boy howdy steve that sure was funny. because i definitely don’t own the band’s entire discography, have seen them three times, and will buy stage names the day it goes on sale.
One of the top five of the summer, no doubt. It might knock Art Brut off “repeat” for awhile…maybe.
OR have changed over the past 4 albums. i fell in love with “dont fall in love with everyone you see.” this was when OR were a quieter, more understated band. not that i don’t like this album, but their first will always remain their best…unless they go back to banjos and brass!
Don’t buy The Stage Names the day it goes on sale. You can preorder it from the record label, Jagjaguwar, website and get it early. And get to download the album right away. And get a bonus cd of demos for the album. So, yeah, internet.
Preorder this album right now (and you’ll get to download it for free). This band is too good for words.
This record is amazingly good, but the songs REALLY shine when played live. I recently saw (and met!) Okkervil River, and the new songs just take on a new life on stage, which seems appropriate.
does anyone else hear Bright Eyes in this stuff?
don’t get me wrong, i love me some okkervil river (and i’m pretty apathetic about bright eyes), but i have always heard some melodic similarities…
great album!
glad to see river getting some attention. this album, along with ilad national flags, is my most anticipated of the year. neither have let me down!
between o river referencing “sloop john b” and ilad referencing the declaration of independence, i’m going to have to give the nod to ilad…
Pre-ordered the album and got the downloads right away. Definitely the way to go.
HELL YES ON ART BRUT, (URGE)OKKERVIL RIVER, AND ILAD!!!
i take back my bright eyes comment.
i will now say that this is the album tim kasher wishes he could make with the Good Life
dudes, after reading the declaration of independence comment, i went and dl’d the ilad album. way different than ok river, but this is some good stuff.
This is a great review. I preordered the album after having held pretty much the band’s entire catalogue for a while. I am also loving the final track of the album.
I am looking forward to listening to the album more, as I have found that their music becomes better when the songs are old friends rather than fresh aquantainces.
But you’re right. Not enough howls and whispers. I was looking for the next “Westfall”, “Omie Wise”, or “War Criminal Rises and Speaks”, among others… Unlike Wilco, here you can be Certain you are getting something new, this disk was a bit of a curveball. I am sure that with this amount of musicality and lyricism, however, that I will love this disk in time as well.