Okkervil River
The Stand Ins (Jagjaguwar)The problem with Okkervil River’s appendix to last year’s The Stage Names is that where the predecessor is a polished and fully realized affair, The Stand Ins doesn’t really figure out what it wants to be until its second half. While “Lost Coastlines” features a lovely back-and-forth between singers Will Sheff and Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg (his swan song with Okkervil), it and subsequent tracks “Singer Songwriter” (loose-limbed and fun-loving) and “Starry Stairs” (smarmy) don’t fit. After a brief instrumental interlude, “Pop Lie” and “On Tour With Zykos” finally feel truer to the energy and tone of The Stage Names, the latter’s bitterness tempered by lovely layered harmonies and instrumentation. While Okkervil River struck gold with its appendix to Black Sheep Boy, not every release should get its own sequel if it means the supplementary material lacks the depth and polish of its source. (5:30pm, AT&T Blue Room stage.)
This article appears in September 26 • 2008.