Okkervil River
The Stand Ins

Here it is, the twin album to "The Stage Names," an album that just a year before (2007) had confirmed OR as one of the undisputed talents of the American indie-rock scene. Let's say it right away, these are not simple outtakes from the older sibling: the tracks on this "Stand Ins" have their own weight and dignity. Try listening to the opening, "Lost Coastlines": it's impossible to remain indifferent to the bouncing rhythm section, the banjo solo, the trumpets, and that "na-na-na" chorus that gets stuck in your head from the first listen. Try putting it on a Sunday morning, just after getting up: it reconciles you with the world.

Here, the dark and diseased atmospheres of "Black Sheep Boy" seem far away: the album continues in the name of alt-country à la Wilco ("Singer Songwriter"), always cheerful and sunny. The rhythms slow down a bit in the central part, with "Starry Stairs" (once again, stunning horns that support Sheff's voice in the middle part of the song) and with the magnificent "Blue Tulip": piano and Hammond organ are prominent, a voice that transports us into a refrain where the suffering, this time, is palpable. And when everything seems to be over, here comes the drum to build, here come the guitars, taking us higher and higher, to the end of the tunnel. An emotional track, goosebumps. Imagine an unlikely mix of Cure-Neil Young-American Music Club, and you'll have an idea of the piece in question.

The second part of the work maintains good levels, with a special mention for the superb piano that supports "On Tour With Zykos", and for the farewell "Bruce Wayne Campbell", characterized by a heartrending vocal melody, in which the rest of the band floats in a wave of fullness-empty, giving the track a very particular dynamism.

Ultimately, we are faced with a work very close in sound and ideas to the previous "The Stage Names": there is an air of reconciliation, of goals achieved, of confidence in their own means. A bit like what happened to the already mentioned Wilco in the era of the seminal "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot", or to the groundbreaking Pavement (making the necessary proportions) with "Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain": the moment arrives when you unleash all your potential, when you realize you can be number one. If "The Stage..." and "The Stand..." had been released together, as a double LP, we would be talking about an indie-rock masterpiece.

Also, pay attention to Will Sheff's lyrics: the album focuses on the different perceptual modalities that arise from the relationships between fans and artists, but the peculiarity lies in how they are written; the verses and choruses are never repeated, generating a flow similar to the writing of a story.

"He gets close, but I choke. Take your shit, take your clothes and get out of my home. I want you to love me or I want you long gone."

Year: 2008

Label: Jagjaguwar