Last week, cinematic alt rockers Okkervil River offered their new album, I Am Very Far, as a live performance to give everyone their first taste of their first record since 2008′s The Stand Ins. Now, courtesy of NPR, the whole record is available to stream, on the handy link below. The 11-song set won’t be available until May 10th, but this is a good way to try before you buy.
It’s a bold departure from how the group has operated so far — and in this case, “the group” means frontman Will Sheff, the only consistent member since Okkervil River formed in Austin a decade ago. Sheff’s vocals are creaky, but his lyrics are dazzling; his arrangements are sloppy, but his hooks are indelible. The band’s trademark has always been the union of those elements into a beautiful mess. I Am Very Far reverses that formula: The storytelling is knotty, cryptic and David Lynch-like in its ominous weirdness, while the music is so severe and precise as to be terrifying at times.
And yet it wouldn’t be an Okkervil River record if it didn’t reward repeat listens. Peer through the darkness and you’ll find bright spots galore: the attack-and-release rhythm of “Rider,” the watery piano textures of “The Rise” and the swirling orchestral swells of “We Need a Myth,” all of them just sitting there behind the menace, waiting to be found. Will Sheff has never had trouble cranking out great songs. What’s so engaging this time around is his willingness to take a beautiful thing and bury it.
Listen to I Am Very Far in its entirety here :
http://www.npr.org/2011/05/02/135734357/first-listen-okkervil-river-i-am-very-far
Source: http://onethirtybpm.com/media/full-album-stream-okkervil-river-i-am-very-far/
