Listening to Otis Redding at Home During Christmas
Okkervil River Song
With grackles in their hair and tragedies in their boots, Okkervil River have taken a shot at tradition and injected it with new passion and virility. Uniting the strains of moody chamber pop contemporaries like Tinderstic... more »ks, Arab Strap and Bright Eyes with the ragged emotional vulnerability of classic folk singers like Leadbelly and Dock Boggs, Okkervil River plays music that is lush, organic, beautiful and unsettling. Supported by some of Austin?s best musicians and produced by Brian Beattie, it is no surprise that Don?t Fall In Love With Everyone You See is such an accomplished musical work. However, what makes this album truly singular is that lyrically, it is so good it makes your head hurt (the good kind of hurt). It reads like no other record we have ever come across: a very contemporary, reflexive masterpiece owing a lot in tone to the very best of the Russian and Southern Gothic literary traditions.« less
With grackles in their hair and tragedies in their boots, Okkervil River have taken a shot at tradition and injected it with new passion and virility. Uniting the strains of moody chamber pop contemporaries like Tindersticks, Arab Strap and Bright Eyes with the ragged emotional vulnerability of classic folk singers like Leadbelly and Dock Boggs, Okkervil River plays music that is lush, organic, beautiful and unsettling. Supported by some of Austin?s best musicians and produced by Brian Beattie, it is no surprise that Don?t Fall In Love With Everyone You See is such an accomplished musical work. However, what makes this album truly singular is that lyrically, it is so good it makes your head hurt (the good kind of hurt). It reads like no other record we have ever come across: a very contemporary, reflexive masterpiece owing a lot in tone to the very best of the Russian and Southern Gothic literary traditions.
"A music reviewer I am not, but I absolutely feel compelled to recommend this CD. If you like Neutral Milk Hotel, the Microphones, Bright Eyes, Will Oldham, and Tom Waits, to name some popular examples, you'll probably find a dominant position on your CD rack for Don't Fall in Love.... The music is immediately striking, emotional, and full of lyrics and stories that you'll want to think about, re-read in the liner notes, and hear again and again."
I want to move to Kansas City.
light_minute | Santa Cruz, CA United States | 01/10/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I just can't get over this CD. I downloaded "Lady Liberty" and "Kansas City" a while before I went out and bought it, and I thought they were pretty wonderful, but the entire album completely floored me. I haven't been able to stop listening to it since I got it. The beautiful, arresting "Westfall" is maybe my favorite track, but every song has its own distinct merits. Okkervil River's songs are wistful, poetic, and intelligent, and will hit you right in the heart."
Know Depression
light_minute | 02/25/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This album loses none of the immediacy or intimacy of their previous CD, "Stars Too Small to Use," but expands on it with greater textural exploration, adding horns, violins, pedal steel, banjo and more to the bare acoustic arrangements of their earlier songs. Even more fleshed out instrumentally as these songs are, they are just as raw as those on OR's previous outing, something they accomplish through fantastic songcraft and bared-soul performances. Combining the rustic tones of Will Oldham (Palace, Bonnie Prince Billy) with the angst of Bright Eyes, this album should appeal to anybody who loves powerful songs performed with abandon. If you like this album, I also highly recommend checking out The Kamikaze Hearts, "Seven More Wonders of the World," if you can find it."
What an incredible surprise
light_minute | 06/06/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Just an incredible album. I happened by this cuz I read a good review I think in Rolling stone and the album just floored me. its not often with a song just MOVES you, and this album has many songs that move you. Red, Westfal, Okkervil River are such beautiful, emotional pieces. Puts your faith back in music."
One of the year's biggest surprises
light_minute | 12/10/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This excellent album seemed to come out of left field earlier this year and is one of 2002's biggest surprises - full of literate, passionate songwriting, lush instrumentation, and riveting performances. Okkervil River has been compared to Neutral Milk Hotel and Wilco - I'd go back slightly further and invoke the names of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. In a pop world so obsessed with surface, it's great to hear people really giving their all. Highly recommended."