Okkervil River - The Stage Names 8.4/10

Okkervil River's 2005 release 'Black Sheep Boy' was a dark and introspective work inspired by the life of US folk singer Tim Harden. Harden was a leading light in the 60s Greenwich Village folk scene but battled heroin addiction for most of his adult life until finally succumbing to it in 1980. 'The Stage Names' is a more autobiographical piece then its predecessor and though its still a desolate piece the lyrical desperation of 'Black Sheep Boy' is tempered somewhat. Musically the guitars of Will Sheff and Brian Cassidy are more bouncy and fun then in previous outings.

Okkervil River were formed in 1998 by singer/songwriter Will Sheff. 'The Stage Names' is their fifth and most 'mature' outing. Sheff is a classic wordsmith, creating sprawling canvases rather then intimate observations. As he declares in the albums opener and stand out track 'Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe' - "It’s just a life story/So there’s no climax" suggests that he is placing his thoughts together not exploiting fractured narratives.

The album concludes with the colossal 'John Allyn Smith Sails'. John Allyn Smith is the birth name of Pulitzer Prize winning American confessional poet John Berryman who committed suicide in 1972 by throwing himself off Washington Avenue Bridge in Minneapolis. The first 2 verses tell desperate tale of suicide, "From a bridge on Washington Avenue, the year of 1972/Broke my bones and skull and it was memorable". What follows is a dramatic reinterpretation of the Beach Boys 'Sloop John B'. John B's worst trip becomes a terrifying fight for life, a plea to turn back the clock to a time before the bridge jump, "It was half a second and I was halfway down/Do you think I wanted to turn back."

'Unless it kicks', ‘Savannah Smiles’ and 'A Girl in Port’ are further proof of the albums claims to greatness. 'A Girl in Port' is a gorgeous piano/steel guitar ballad which shows the band prepared to push themselves. Sheff's vocals come to the fore here, surely one of the most emotive in contemporary rock.

'The Stage Names' shows a band finding its calling, its a mature and complete record. Intelligent is the music critics most over used word, however in the case of Will Sheff its apt. Musically and lyrically this work shines and like all great pieces keeps you hanging for more....is it to early to be anointing the album of the year??

For direct download from 'The Stage Names', 'Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe' and 'John Allyn Smith Sails'.
And a bonus track track from 2006's 'Overboard and Down EP' 'The President's Dead'.

Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe
John Allyn Smith Sails
The President Is Dead

An interview with Will Sheff during the 2007 South by Southwest festival.