Okkervil River follows up its past two fame-themed albums with I Am Very Far, a record still lingering on the rock-and movie-star themes. The album opens with two tracks that sound flat and out of place—lacking the hooks that launch listeners into earlier albums. It’s not until track three that frontman Will Sheff ups the tempo and jumps into escalating arrangements of epics where a “blood river raced/the stadium roared and the warriors embraced.” The album picks up pace from here, incorporating Okkervil River’s usual repertoire of mythological, natural and pop cultural metaphors; “We Need a Myth” seems to summarize Sheff’s feelings on life in general.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2011.