Featuring five covers of songs I’ve never heard before!
Posts tagged okkervil river
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
We Need a Myth
Okkervil River
“We Need A Myth,” Okkervil River. I Am Very Far proves an apt title for a record that, for all its sonic grandeur, often feels remote. Scanning through Will Sheff’s characteristically intricate lyrics we find the guilty lovers and bloody murder victims who have always populated his work. But what are they doing here? In the past, Sheff offered us clues, in the form of the concept albums that housed his characters — one record inspired by another song, say, or a couple about life in and around a mid-level band. I Am Very Far, on the other hand, opens in a distant valley and stays there.
But Sheff is a sly fellow, and this very impulse to make meaning and draw connections forms the heart of I Am Very Far’s best song. On “We Need a Myth,” Sheff lampoons our desire for an overarching story to explain it all — “a path through the mist / like in our beds, we were just kids / Like what was said by our parents.” As the song builds, Okkervil add sonic layers like so many chapters to a book, until by its climax the band is strings-blazing and raging against one of the most familiar myths we have: “We need a myth / And as we lean in to kiss / To get two nails through the wrist / To get covered in blood and to get covered in spit / And to forgive.” Better to believe a lie with good intentions than to swallow the alternative. “With the truth closing in / I must insist / We need a myth,” goes the nicely twisty ending. If as a concept this risks coming across as stoner philosophy, Sheff convinces us of his sincerity through the sheer angry power of his voice. He lets go totally here, and as he does he brings us closer to him than we find ourselves on the rest of this bold but difficult work.
“The Stand-Ins and The Stage Names — those records were me trying to articulate my incredibly cloudy thoughts about what I want out of art, and what I get frustrated and depressed by, and all these ridiculous things I expect art to do. But it was very vague and cloudy; I couldn’t really put it into words. It was kind of a bummer and a drag to see people going, ‘This is Will’s meditation on the perils of fame.’ The Stage Names was not a meditation on the perils of fame. I’m not famous and I didn’t mean to imply that I don’t really give a shit about the perils of fame! It was this broader thing.”
Will Sheff, on his decision not to record a concept album this time around, in a great interview with Amanda Petrusich.
I Am Very Far is out May 10, but you can hear it now thanks to NPR.
“I don’t want to be desperately striving for people to like me. Because it’s a way to become everybody’s slave, become like this clown. I feel like…this sounds really corny, but when I’m trying to make a piece, it needs some kind of very intangible audience. It’s almost like, the ‘gods of art’, or something [laughs]. An offering to the gods of art, who I know are going to find all kinds of flaws with it and hate it anyway, but they’re the people that I’m trying to appeal to.”
Okkervil River’s Will Sheff, on his ideal audience, in Drowned in Sound.
“[W]e we ended up at the Arcade Fire’s private thing…they didn’t think they were going to win, so they didn’t do any special party. We were over at the hotel, at the very end of the night, and it was fun and all that. And then we went back to see some family members, and everybody was saying “Oh, you were at the Grammys? Did you see Mick Jagger? Did you see Elton John?” I was like “No, but get this - we were at the party given by the people who won the whole thing, the Arcade Fire!” And they were like, “See, I don’t know who they are.” All of the family members were really unimpressed that we were hanging out with the people who won the entire competition. There is that to consider.”
Will Sheff, on his Grammy experience, in a great interview in Austinist.
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Mermaid
Okkervil River
“Mermaid,” Okkervil River. Twentyfourbit pointed me to the latest from Okkervil River, and it’s a very promising one-off single recorded as the band worked on their forthcoming I Am Very Far. As I told Peter over e-mail, it manages to sound completely like an Okkervil River song while still feeling more polished than what’s come before. I haven’t yet delved into the lyrics, but I love the sound — delicate, effeminate even, and very much in the vein of the beloved “Black Sheep Boy.” (The melody bears a resemblance to “So Come Back, I am Waiting,” to the point that you can almost hum along in counterpoint that part where he rhymes ‘bacterium’ with ‘magisterial.’) But the song is so confident in itself, almost regal when the horns come in at the end, that I could never object. I’d also note that this is one of Will Sheff’s best vocal performances — occasionally he sounds fey or strained, but he nails this one completely.
(track via boyattractions, who posted this [mp3] link)
(Source: boyattractions)
- Tags
- okkervil river
- Via
- boyattractions
“Wake And Be Fine,” the new Okkervil River track the band debuted on Jimmy Fallon last night, is a little shouty for my tastes. But I like the energy, and the presence of A.C. Newman. We’ll all probably like this one more once we know which suicidal poet it’s about. (via)
[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
Be And Bring Me Home
Roky Erickson w/ Okkervil River
“Be and Bring Me Home,” Roky Erickson & Okkervil River. If you remember Roky Erickson or the 13th Floor Elevators at all, it’s most likely because their psychedelic classic “You’re Gonna Miss Me” was on the High Fidelity soundtrack. Now Erickson has joined with Okkervil River for his first album of new material in 14 years, and this song is really striking. “Be and Bring Me Home” an old man’s song, gravelly and folksy but undeniably sweet. Okkervil River gives Erickson a warm bed of horns and guitars, and over the course of the song they build to a satisfying finish. Stereogum has another good one, “Goodbye Sweet Dreams.” True Love Cast Out All Evil is out April 20. (download)
