Okkervil River:I Am Very Far

9/10 Dropps.

Since the release of the Stage Names and the Stand Ins in 2007 and 2008 respectively, Austin, Texas rock band Okkervil River have been busy. For awhile former guitarist Jonathan Meiburg pulled double duty as a member of both Okkervil River and Shearwater. In 2010 the band produced and served as the backing band for Austin psychedelic rock pioneer Roky Erickson on his album True Love Cast Out All Evil. Lead singer Will Sheff was even nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for the album. He then released, I Am Very Far: the Lyrics, a hard bound lyric book of prose designed as an introduction to the band’s latest release. The release in question is I Am Very Far, an album whose dark, chaotic forays are a departure from the sing-along shout fests of their previous works and in some paradoxical way shines through musically and lyrically.

An ongoing staple in an Okkervil River release is its use of violent imagery. Drawing on a theme of rock ‘n roll death, “the Valley” runs thick with bloody prose. It’s all gunshots to the head and slit throats here. “We were piled in the river with the rock and roll skinned,” sings Sheff, with the sort of urgent lament that, coupled with a murderous shrill of strings, creates a bubbling unease.

I Am Very Far proves itself to be the band’s most engaging album yet. Its questioning nature and genuine heartbreak are tangible enough to make the listener feel like each song’s protagonist; a lost soul searching for an answer, someone on the losing end of an infidelity, and someone who just needs an extra push to get the love he or she declares to the self.

Sheff’s ability to capture doubt proves strong on “We Need a Myth.” Where many lyricists come off as whiny and self-afflicted, Sheff cleverly recalls graphic, classic imagery. “Show me the world as it was again, as it was in a myth. A red ribbon to reconnect the lady’s head to her neck and to forget that her throat was ever slit,” Sheff sings as he comes to believe we’ve been sold a lie and we need a new one to cure a feeling of emptiness.

The drama of “Hanging From a Hit” bleeds into the next song as if to form a short narrative: a reflection of the self on the part of the “other guy.” It is here, in “Show Yourself,” where I Am Very Far shows itself to be a testament to atmospheric textures and their ability to awaken the subconscious. With its shimmering, chiming electric guitars and lonely and reverberated acoustic guitar, it calls upon feelings of defeat and needing someone. “I’ve felt enough. I can’t really feel it anymore and I know I’m closing off as it gets colder. Can I call out like before?” Sheff coos somberly. It’s a minimalist play whose result is something insular and yet universal.

The payoff from such sad introspection comes in the form of the album’s grandiose single, “Your Past Life As a Blast.” It’s a declaration of love deeply entrenched in reverberated atmosphere but it is even more rich in grooves and melodies demanding of crowd adoration and sing a longs. Lyrically, the song takes on themes of both romantic and familial love. On one hand, Sheff sings about having a future with someone, “touch my wrist it’s shaking, just like someday baby when we’re older.” On the other hand, familiar love rings, “no one, no one, is going to stop me from loving my brother, not even my brother.”

Elegant as it is violent, I Am Very Far is the sort of self-reflecting paradox that confuses and disturbs listeners, but ultimately grips them with raw emotional appeal. Just as ferociously as it shakes its listeners, it cradles them and invites them in on its own vulnerability. It’s loving but it’s sullen. It’s lively and it’s dying. I Am Very Far is Okkervil River at its best.

-Eric Quitugua