Okkervill River The Stage Names by: Justin Pearsall Mon:16-Jul-07 Label: Jagjaguwar Year: 2007 WB rating 83 out of 100

Speaking to KEXP, a Seattle based public radio station, about The Stage Names, Will Sheff had this to say:

“We tried to kind of go as different from Black Sheep Boy as we could on this album. That seemed like the most scary option, and probably the best option to take.”

With Okkervil River’s new album, Sheff’s vision has been only partly realised. Less abrasive, brighter and more traditional than its predecessor, The Stage Names is more of a deviation than a new direction. While Sheff’s songwriting has embraced a newfound simplicity and the band has turned the intensity down in favour of subtlety, the character of the album is still defined by the range-pushing yelps of Sheff, its murky alt-country backgrounds and quiet-loud dynamics, all qualities that ensure that The Stage Names is the natural successor to Black Sheep Boy.

While Sheff may not have lived up to his anti-Black Sheep Boy ambitions, what Okkervil River have achieved, however, is a measured and deep progression to their sound. A progression that ensures The Stage Names is a resounding success, playing to the band’s strengths while streamlining their narratives and the grit of past records.

Opening with the belting ‘Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe’, Sheff is in demanding form early: “No cut to a costly parade that’s for him only/No dissolve to a sliver of grey”, his impassioned performance the highlight of the album – and possibly the main draw in the band’s sound. While the chugging acoustic guitar rhythms may be reminiscent of Adam Sandler’s ‘Somebody Kill Me’ from The Wedding Singer, Okkervil’s stop-start dynamics are at their pinnacle here, the belting “woo-hoo’s” and accented piano providing Arcade Fire-esque weight.

‘Unless it’s Kicks’ continues this fist pumping vein, its dirty rock ‘n’ roll riff borrowed from the same saloons that The Hold Steady have been frequenting; the wordy storytelling of Sheff driven by a four-to-the-floor party atmosphere that rejects the more gloomy tendencies of Black Sheep Boy. This upbeat tact is maintained throughout ‘A Hand To Take Hold of The Scene’, the Keith-Richards-through-a-fuzz-box feel replaced by a Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me-styled pop swing and piano tinkering.

With the more of immediate side of The Stage Names now established, Okkervil River are free to experiment; and experiment they do, denying their overcast past in favour of lullaby-like balladry and mid-tempo Americana throughout the mid-section of the album. In the same interview with KEXP Sheff hinted at his desire to defy expectations: “I think there’s a perverse part of myself that says ‘the thing I should never get away with is the thing I should try and get away with’”. In some ways the Bright Eyes-esque sentimentality displayed in these songs is exactly this, rejecting the guttural ability the singer has to tear a melody right down the middle, instead confining himself to the notes within his vocal range.

Thankfully these middle tracks, particularly ‘A Girl In Port’ and The Counting Crows-like  ‘Plus Ones’, are strengthened by Sheff’s rhythmic delivery, proving that even when in second gear vocally, he can still provide an endearing performance. Likewise the band behind Sheff exercise the required restraint to carry Okkervil River through the no-man’s land of mid-tempo balladry, the varied percussion (shakers and clock-like rhythms) and sparse piano playing of particular import. While fans of the more experimental aspects of Black Sheep Boy may not be immediately appeased by such a progression, the songs, given time, are strong enough to be a warranted part of this record.

However Sheff’s “perverse” desire to push the boundaries and the band’s obvious desire to separate themselves from their back catalogue is not always successful. Examples of this being ‘Title Track’, a song weakened by Sheff’s tendency to take his rhyming to Oberst-like extremes: “A Hollywood Babylon bike-a-thon/For breakdancers all broken down in their beds”, and the misguided inclusion of a reworked ‘Sloop John B’, that takes place during the album’s closing track ‘John Allyn Smith Sails’. These moments, and the toe-tapping ‘You Can’t Hold The Hand of a Rock And Roll Man’, succeed in differentiating The Stage Names from Black Sheep Boy, but it is questionable as to how successful they are in the context of The Stage Names as a singular work.

While Okkervil River may not have created the antithesis of Black Sheep Boy, this album does seem to be a natural and important step for the band. It is an album that is diverse, and one that engages in an impressive balancing act between immediacy and subtlety. Most importantly it is a record that succeeds on many levels, and is a rewarding and sustained listen.