The Stand Ins
A welcome sequel to 2007\'s cinematic *The Stage Names*, the similarly heady fifth studio album from Okkervil River was originally meant to be the second companion disc to *The Stage Names*. But don\'t think that *The Stand Ins* comprises outtakes and extras that didn\'t make the cut in 2007. Had the album\'s predecessor never happened, this one could easily stand on its own with catchy and captivating folk-rooted narratives that touch on subjects of loving, losing, loneliness, and even fallen pop star adoration — \"Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979\" is a powerful and epic tribute to the late, great Jobriath (a \'70s glam rock singer whose decision to be the first openly gay rock star unfortunately overshadowed his enormous talent). On songs like the scathing \"Singer Songwriter\" and the biting \"Pop Lie,\" frontman Will Sheff displays a Dylanesque knack for cutting the subjects of his songs down with a scholarly honed sardonic edge. Other gems like \"Calling And Not Calling My Ex\" boast gripping prose set to well-arranged and memorable song craft that\'s somewhat reminiscent of Scott Walker\'s solo works. Guitar player Charles Bissell of The Wrens and Shearwater\'s Jonathan Meiburg contribute to the album.
Okkervil Rivers’s new full-length album 'The Stand Ins' is the sequel to 2007’s critically acclaimed 'The Stage Names', which Pitchfork praised as “…one of the year’s best,” and The New York Times proclaimed, “This band’s musical arsenal keeps getting fuller.” 'The Stand Ins' was recorded in Austin and produced by longtime collaborator Brian Beattie and Okkervil River. The album features 11 songs and includes the track “Lost Coastlines,” on which Sheff and recently departed Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater share a duet on the joys and hardships of trying to keep the band together. Of the process Will Sheff explains, “We had so many songs we were excited about that we briefly threw around the idea of just putting out a double record. Instead, we decided to take a group of songs that fit with each other and turn that into 'The Stage Names', setting the rest aside for a future release, a 'The Stage Names' sequel." 'The Stand Ins' is that sequel, part two of a staggered double album. Like artist William Schaff’s embroidered artwork, which depicts what’s happening underneath 'The Stage Names’ front-cover quicksand hand, 'The Stand Ins' picks up exactly where Part One left off but also delves deeper into the story and theme of 'The Stage Names'. It is a full-length, fleshed-out, deeply ambitious labor of love.
Life was a crummy movie on Okkervil River's breakthrough album, The Stage Names. On The Stand Ins, it's a lousy rock show. As the interchangeable titles and puzzle-piece album covers imply, this new record is an extension of its predecessor, a further untangling of themes and ideas about music, art, celebrity, love, and the folly of it all.
Will Sheff has been known to balk at the term "lit-rock," but there's no getting around the fact that the Okkervil River frontman can be wordy. On last year's mostly awesome arts-and-entertainment deconstruction The Stage Names, Sheff's punk sneering and stalker crooning occasionally came off like a chat with a…
Okkervil River's 2007 almost-masterpiece Stage Names presented a vivid dissection of the "Silver Screen," both literally and metaphorically as filtered through the crowded, cerebral library of bandleader (and one-time film student) Will Sheff.
Altogether, the specifics amount to less than Will Sheff’s elusive descriptions of Marie, Cindy, and Holly in Stage Names.
<p>This album depicts pop music as a creatively and morally bankrupt abyss of egocentricism and empty fads</p>
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins review: With its sweeping blend of dense folk-rock and free flowing narrative courtesy of lyrical genius Will Scheff, The Stand-Ins is up there with some of the best albums released this year so far.