Okkervil River - I Am Very Far

starting a new thread:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/28/I_Am_Very_Far_album_cover.jpg

I Am Very Far is the sixth album by Okkervil River, set to be released in May 10, 2011 on Jagjaguwar Records. It will be their first album since the 2008 release of The Stand Ins and their 2010 collaboration with Roky Erickson. It was produced primarily in Austin, Connecticut and Brooklyn by lead singer Will Sheff.

1. "The Valley"
2. "Piratess"
3. "Rider"
4. "Lay of the Last Survivor"
5. "White Shadow Waltz"
6. "We Need a Myth"
7. "Hanging From a Hit"
8. "Your Past Life as a Blast"
9. "Wake and Be Fine"
10. "The Rise"

this band can do no wrong, imo.

looking very forward to hearing this, 2011 seems so much better for indie than 2010 was.

This might be good, but it won't be better than Will Sheff's Grammys live commentary on twitter.

the track-by-track on Spin makes this sound like it'll be a bit nuts.

yes yes yes. can't wait.

this was uploaded by RollingStone on Mar 8, 2011, first single:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK24dRF8fRc

very tempting but severely wallet-sapping "de luxe" edition now available:

http://scdistribution.com/okkervilriver

there's a video for the single now — it was okay, sorta 'retro'/'trippy' aesthetic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHaCtxW6Vv8

(I may have been too stoned / not stoned enough when I watched this the first time. also, I still don't really *love* the song... altho it's continued to grow on me, as many of theirs tend to do.)

UPDATE: now I love the song. and I stopped getting stoned, fer mental health reasons, so I don't think it was that — it's just a bit of grower is all

PS somebody freakin leak this already, jeeze!!!

i'm in the same boat kind of, i only kind of like "Wake and Be Fine" it does ends on a high note. looking very forward to this new album as this band is one of the better ones going right now.

It's kicking around now, and basically it's like an Arcade Fire record I can actually get behind.

fffffyeah

last one sorta reminded me of 'a Wilco record I can actually get behind' so that comparison is intriguing

Misread this as "I Am Very Fat."

! hadn't realized they're back, haven't seen them in years. sweet.

xp wait for the reunion tour in ~15 years

thanks for letting me know this is out there, heading to Magiska now.

so looking forward to this record!

You got to stay at Magiska? What's it like in there now? Cigars and cognac?

so far: don't love it, may grow to

feels surprisingly proggy? — lots of unusual/unpredictable song structures, (perhaps) gratuitous key changes — hard to believe that "We Need A Myth" or "Show Yourself" are only 5 minutes long and not, like, 12 (although I like both of those tracks!)

okay I'm warming up to it

"Hanging From A Hit" is one of their most beautiful torch songs, and "Show Yourself" is — and I mean this in the best possible way — almost Pink Floyd-y

"Hanging From a Hit," "Piratess" and "Lay of the Last Survivor" are the standouts for me at the moment. The last couple minutes of "Show Yourself" and "The Rise" are beautiful, too. Not really sure what to make of "Your Past Life as a Blast."

"past life" seems like it might have arcade fire-y crossover legs? maybe? I dunno

It's basically a not-as-good "Sprawl II," which is odd because the rest of the album kinda beats AF at their own game.

eh, I'm still not totally sold — I feel like there is a lingering self-aware destructive/critical impulse which occasionally keeps them from letting go and doing things that are simple and beautiful in the same way that e.g. "Seas Too Far" or "Another Radio Song" were — "Hanging From A Hit" being biggest exception (also an amazing lyric, which took a couple listens to really sink in)

the rockier/more-uptempo ones haven't really made an impression on me, either, apart from "Rider" (and that's mostly because I love the 'silver scissoring wings' line)
(oh and of course I have grown to really like "Wake & Be Fine", almost forgot to mention it!)

I think it's the self-aware aspects that keep them interesting - they have a bunch of LPs that all sound markedly different from each other, and very few songs I'd consider to be rehashes of something they've done before. I do agree that these songs feel a little overworked in places.

I guess the AF comparison came up because this marries those kind of bombastic arrangements to not-cringeworthy lyrics, which I find kind of novel.

I think it's the self-aware aspects that keep them interesting - they have a bunch of LPs that all sound markedly different from each other, and very few songs I'd consider to be rehashes of something they've done before. I do agree that these songs feel a little overworked in places.

don't disagree with this at all — I love the self-aware, and it

I guess the AF comparison came up because this marries those kind of bombastic arrangements to not-cringeworthy lyrics, which I find kind of novel.

yeah, I see yr point. also kinda reminds me of the National at times... maybe this is just "the sound of indie rock" at the moment? but OR are definitely above-average in their handling of the style, and way above-average in songwriting/lyrics/confidence.

anyway, I've really warmed up to this now — first 3 songs + "Wake and Be Fine" are all totally killer — "Lay of the Last Survivor" and "Hanging from a Hit" are solid pretty ballad-y things — and "Show Yrself" includes a meta- moment that is one of my favorite musical surprises of the year (when it seems like an epic sprawling guitar solo is starting up, but then Will Sheff cuts it off after like 5 notes with I've had enough! / I can see and almost know / There is no one there to help you / There is no one there to hold you / ... Let it go)

whoops, that cutoff sentence shoulda been "I love the self-aware, and it's responsible for some of my favorite moments in their music". or something like that.

Yeah it's definitely a grower. Even "Past Life" is sounding better to me, mostly thanks to the unusually open-armed lyric. I really like "We Need a Myth," too, for the way he exploits the double meaning behind its central sentiment ("what we're after is a myth"). Sheff can really milk shit like that.

I dig the b-sides too, especially the very creepy "Walked Out On a Line." Apparently there's a few more leftovers, which isn't surprising given their recent pattern of having (at least) two releases per session.

this album is so much better than it should be. was not expecting something this good for a sixth album. my copy is the Australian version which includes "Mermaid," wonderful bonus.

looking forward to hearing this for a second time.

still not sold on the single "Wake and Be Fine." seems to be the weak link, at this point.

the single is the best song on the album!

I had kind of a bell curve reaction to this record: wasn't sure, loved it, now I'm back to feeling kind of 'eh' on the whole thing. It feels draining even though it isn't very long. Too much mid-tempo. I think I have this reaction to all their albums.

yeah the single is a barnburner. especially in the context of the album (which does indeed tend towards the mid-tempo).

this album came out today and i bought it on CD, feel so old school.

So did I. Still hadn't heard a note of it before today either.

and now?

I was really taken by the opening pair of tracks but must admit the album turns into a bit of a slog by the end.

yeah I'm still not convinced by this. it seems to lack something of that epic, overreaching, high-wire quality that made me love the last three records so much.

and now?

Only listened once so far, and I can definitely say I'm going to need more time with it to really form an opinion, but I like what I've heard so far. Felt like it sagged a little in the middle third, but my attention was also divided more at that point.