Okkerville River - "In The Rainbow Rain"

Since the early 2000's, Okkervil River has been bringing to the table very passionate and cinematic Indie Folk and Alternative Country.  Now, when it comes to their 2002 debut, "Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See", I'm not entirely sold.  I feel like this album is most entertaining when it's at it's wildest.  Like, tracks like "Lady Liberty" are unbelievable Indie Folk tunes, most of which came down to the performances of Will Sheff.  This guy completely broke the mold of current, sleepy Indie Folkers with very passionate, exciting performances, and I loved what I heard.  However, some of the drearier and more drawn out tracks on here I just wasn't that into at all.  However, Okkervil River had all the potential in the world. They certainly cleaned up their act with 2003's "Down The River of Golden Dreams".  The production on here was so much better, and the song structures were right up the band's alley/  Tracks like "The War Criminal Rises and Speaks" and "The Velocity of Saul at the Time of his Conversion" were these very grand, epic, quirky Indie Folk tunes.  And yes, they may not be the most exciting tunes.  But Okkervil River combated that with immensely passionate performances.  However, with 2005's "Black Sheep Boy" Okkervil River really came out into their own.  There was plenty of more instrumentation on this album from start to finish, and even the more stripped down tunes had an elegance that simply wasn't present on earlier recordings.  To me though, it was all about some of the more upbeat Folk Rock tunes, like "Black" which absolutely blew my mind.  Overall, this album's very cinematic and passionate atmosphere was absolutely brilliant.  Okkervil River had my attention.  And they took my attention and absolutely blew my mind with 2007's "The Stage Names".  This album was classy on every level.  There were wordy, upbeat Indie tunes which had passionate performances to spare, and the slower tunes had this old time singer-songwriter feel that came off unbelievably.  Overall,  this album took the modern Indie sound, shined it up nicely and presented it with an almost cinematic feel.  In a way, I felt like I was watching some grand show listening to this, and hell yea I loved it all.  Okkervil River continued to make really fantastic Folk with 2008's "The Stand Ins", probably my favorite album of theirs.  I just loved the swagger on tracks like "Starry Stairs", and the passionate performances raged on with tunes like "Lost Coastlines" and "Pop Lie".  All in all, Okkervil River around this time was such a fresh face in the world of Indie and Indie Folk.  Okkervil returned with a brand new sound however in 2011 with "I Am Very Far".  For a good chunk of this album, Okkervil River really stripped down their sound, going for a more straightforward Indie recording.  Honestly, it wasn't terrible, mostly because more often than not the performances were still wild and passionate.  But still, it was missing a little something for me. I have a lot of the same feelings about 2013's "The Silver Gymnasium".  This album once again, sort of steered clear of some of the Folk Rock Okkervil was putting out for years.  But I still did enjoy a good set of songs here, mostly because their song structures were so well put together and the performances remained charismatic.  Thankfully though, I really didn't mind 2016's "Away" at all.  Okkervil River here really went back to their much more stripped down sound, incorporating more strings and Jazz elements.  And while I think this album really only works as an entire album and not the power of a song or two, I was surprised with just how much I enjoyed this album.  Okkervil River are back, and I have to admit, I actually really love some of the singles that have dropped from this album.  It just sorts of sounds like where Okkervil River should be right now.  Let's chat about this, shall we?

(A Personal Favorite of Mine)

    This album starts out with “Famous Tracheotomies”.  And I mean, at least a part of this comes off like an Okkervil River track.  Will has always been a very personal writer and loves telling stories of his life.  But this is just a really weird choice for a song topic.  This is literally just a prolonged story of his youth getting a Tracheotomy and other celebrities who have also had them.  Which hey, that’s fine, that’s an interesting little tidbit.  But it’s just a really weird song topic that runs for 5 minutes.  Now, let’s talk about everything else here.  As far as the atmosphere and instrumentals go, I actually think this has a really cool and interesting sound to it.  The backing vocals are sweet and bouncy, and the jazzy instrumentals have a great vibe.  But I’m not into this, not at all.  Those passionate performances I loved, the heart, the soul, it’s all nowhere to be found.  I respect Will for penning this tune because it’s obviously a big deal for him.  But this isn’t for me.  Then we have “The Dream And The Light”, and is this really what we’ve come to?  Emotional Piano Rock?  Is that really where we are right now?  Okkervil River was one of Indie Folk’s finest acts, and this is where we are now?  Now, I have to say, the emotion is back because Will actually does sound great.  And eventually, this one does pick up into a pleasant tune.  It’s still Piano Rock, but when it picks up at the very least it begins to sound like Okkervil River at least.  There’s a lot of storytelling elements, and easily one of the strongest and most anthemic choruses I’ve heard out of these guys in years.  It’s a pretty smooth Folk Rock tune, which I honestly wouldn’t mind hearing again.  It’s beautiful and passionate, and everything I could ask to hear.  And some of the smooth details thrown in like that Saxophone are VERY sharp.  But then we get “Love Somebody”, and instantly it’s just nope nope NOPE from me.  We’re right back to the sort of sappy Piano Rock that this album just can’t stay away from.  There are some really nice and likable elements, like these vocal harmonies which have never been so prominent.  The problem with this album is that it sounds nice on the surface, but only on the surface.  To be honest, it actually sounds overly nice on the surface.  The production is very classy, and the sort of Soft Rock and Jazz influences are actually really nice touches.  But where is that passion?  Where are the performances?  I feel like this track has a really great base to it, but it’s just so wishy-washy, especially after all the incredible work they’ve given us in the past.  “Love Somebody” is catchy and all, but it’s far from where I want to hear Okkervil river, and far from the tasteful crossover that their last album was.  The very moody, chilled out atmosphere on tracks like “Family Song” continues.  This here is some rainy day music, to say the least.  But it’s still so far from the sound we all fell in love with.  I’ve actually yet to hear a performance on this album that I can truly latch onto and call incredible.  They’ve done ballads in the past.  But this one just seems to literally be like pulling teeth from Will.  There’s no passion in sight, he just sounds like he’s about to pass out at any moment.  And once again, on the surface, this track sounds just fine.  Hell, there’s even a really cool atmosphere here and the instrumentals actually have a lot of really cool influences.  Not to mention, there’s more emotion in this instrumental than anything else going on with this track.  “Family Song” is hard to swallow, hell this entire album is hard to swallow, and fans of Okkervil River’s early material are not going to be happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AZW5aauxvw

    At this point in the album, honestly “Pulled Up The Ribbon” has just the right amount of energy and passion behind it.  It’s got some beautiful synths, some dreamy atmospheres, and one of Will’s best performances of this entire album.  It’s endearing, and easily one of the most powerful tracks here.  It’s moments like this that make me feel like this much bigger and bolder sound could have worked really nice if done the right way.  Plus some of these backing vocals are really pleasant and gives this already dense track more vastness.  Not to mention, t here’s such a timeless feel to this one that makes it all hit harder.   But then we get “Don’t Move Back to LA”, a Folk song.  Hey kids, remember Folk music?  This one has a very woozy, Psychedelic feel to it which on paper sounds really exciting.  But this track does absolutely nothing for me.  Okkervil River at a time was one of the sharpest bands on the Indie scene, penning countless incredible tunes.  But “Don’t Move Back To LA” sounds like it was written in about 5 minutes on the back of a napkin and recorded with revision.  There are some quirky moments, but if this is what is passing for Folk in 2018 it’s a sad state of affairs.  Not even the wonky production at times can make this a win.  “Shelter Song” reminds us that on paper this album has a bunch of really nice sounds.  This time, it’s some dreamy, atmospheric Pop sounds.   But if you would believe it, it’s one of the worst tunes here.  This track is the most boring of the bunch, and Will sounds a note or two away from falling asleep altogether.  There’s some solid production and all, and I know Okkervil thinks this is some bold new direction for them.  But they aren’t fooling me one bit, this alum is getting rougher by the second.  Then we get “How It Is”, an honest to god track with an Electronic sound.  At this point, nothing else is working, so why the hell not?  To be honest though, while this is far from what I want to hear from the band, this brings in just enough energy to wake me up a bit.  But the fact that this is an Okkervil River album is both puzzling and depressing.  I give it to them though, as left field and ballsy as this one it, it works.  There are some nice grooves, funky horns, and Will actually sort of sounds interested in what he’s doing.  Am I saying this sound can save Okkervil River?  Not even close.  But it’s an experiment that works, and I salute that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ7bMUsOu7w

    Then we have “External Actor”, and we’re right back to a very laid back and chilled out vibe.  But like, I’m really not into Will’s very starry-eyed performance.  This would be a little more interesting in a differ atmosphere and a different album at a different time in their career.  Without all of that, this is just a really questionable performance all around.  Will certainly sounds like he’s a little more interested and awake for once.  But there are some unbearably questionable moments here.  I feel like this is a straight-up parody of Okkervil River’s classic work.  I’m not into it, this is just grating sadly.  “Human Being Song” as a finale at the very least sort of sounds like the Okkervil River I was once interested in, casually trying out a new sound or two.  There are some Folk Influences, amongst this once again very warm atmosphere.  But what I once loved about this band was the passionate performances and sharp lyrics.  Neither one of those is anywhere in sight. 

Rating: 5.7/10




Give A Listen To: "The Dream And The Light", "Pulled Up The Ribbon", "How It Is"




Genre: Indie Rock / Indie Folk 




Overall Thoughts:  Okkervil River expand on their sound that they began experimenting with on their last album, "Away".  There are Strings and Jazzy elements and synths galore.  And while at a glance this album sounds really nice, there's no heart in sight.  This was once a Folk project built on passionate performances and sharp lyrics.  But the material on this album shows those days are long gone.  Will Sheff sounds exhausted and often is sort of just a backdrop to the sea of instrumentals here.  Sure, a track or two goes over well and comes off like a genuinely interesting experiment for the band.  But too much of this album has me scratching my head and falling asleep rather than coming back for seconds.