The Voice on Okkervil River

With 2005’s Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River’s Will Sheff has found his voice. Having already established his band’s American folkternative sound with Down the River of Golden Dreams, Sheff now celebrates the confidence and dexterity to sing his songs with a power already present in his writing. The instrumentation raises similarities to other contemporary artists while distinguishing the record from Okkervil’s previous releases. Compare the gentle strings and lonely narrator of “In A Radio Song” to Arcade Fire’s “Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles),” and the sweetness and punctuation of mandolin and trumpet on “A King and A Queen” to Bright Eyes’ “We Are Nowhere and It’s Now.” Themes of isolation and a dark view of the world at times rest BSB in between Arcade Fire’s Funeral and Bright Eyes’ I’m Wide, It’s Morning, while not aiming for the sonic assault of the former, but still bringing more punch and thickness than the latter.

Bostonist found Okkervil River (as a 6-piece to cover their instrumental bases) at TT the Bear’s Place in Cambridge on a Thursday night. Live, the songs took on a rambling, rambunctious quality with strong storytelling akin to The Pogues, further aided by the use of accordion, mandolin, trumpet (second trumpet courtesy of excellent opener Minus Story leader Jordan Geiger), and Travis Nelson’s rollicking drumming (despite a broken wrist). This pub atmosphere resulted from a song selection that generally bypassed the slower moments on the band’s four records for tracks filled with vitality and refrains that the crowd could participate in at every level of familiarity and sobriety. Highlights included “The War Criminal Rises and Speaks,” “For Real,” and “It Ends With A Fall”

Where singer Will Sheff’s voice is thin and stretching on previous records, a brash bravado typical on BSB characterized his live delivery, another benefit of favoring Okkervil’s faster, louder songs onstage. Filling the performance with the sweaty sincerity that his stories are due, Sheff reminded Bostonist of Rhett Miller using every restless muscle to push the songs out through the microphone while not cutting his guitar any slack. On record and live, Sheff’s voice is perfectly harnessed and excitedly unleashed on “Black”, a bouncy consolation/revenge story that deserves the attention (on a national level) that Bostonist’s dancing subconscious has constantly given to it. With songwriting comparisons to Leonard Cohen and Tim Hardin (the inspiration for Black Sheep Boy), Will Sheff has a bright future in American storytelling; with songs like “Black”, Okkervil River have a bright future in live performance and mass popularity.

Contributed by Michael Walker / Photo courtesy of Shelby Sloan