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Trying not to turn off

Grant Alexander | Albuquerque | 02/18/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Okkervil river's new album has an urgency , a sense that the music must come out, must roll forward in exactly the order that it does, that herald's all great rock albums. Though there are undeniable folk tones, the rock albumness of it starts and ends with `Unless it Kicks', the best rock song since `Power's Out'.



'Unless it kicks' has that forcefulness, that sense, of this, this right here, being the purpose of creating and appreciating music. It has that epic rock track intensity that often finishes with a wordless yell (such as is found in `Will you smile again for me' or `Freebird' or `Let the devil in').



What does justify making or consuming music if not the kicks it provides, if not the fictions that pick us up from down, that distract us, that hum through our blood, that even if you know they're a lie, you still give your love, you still believe? And to hear the lead singer tell us that this blind love is what breaks his heart the most, and that this love of the music, which may seem unrequited, isn't, is fully reciprocated in all the joy of the music; and that together, us and the music created by the band, we WILL try not to turn off, and we WILL not be alone in believing a lie about our grace, about our reprieve.



Plus Ones and Girl in Port are both excellent slower songs, the lyrical references on Plus Ones are particularly appealing, the best example coming in this run of verses towards the end.





51st way to leave your lover

Admittedly, it doesn't seem to be as gentle or as clean as all the others,

Leaving its scars.



All in the after hours of some Greenpoint bar

I told you, I can't listen, baby,

'bout the 4th time you were a lady and how your forthrightness betrayed a secret shyness

Stripped away by days of being hailed as "your highness"

And what's new pussycat, as you were once a lioness;

They cut your claws out



Kitten, not everyone's keen on lighting candle 17, the party's done, the cake's all gone, the plates are clean

The chauffeur's leering from the cheerless mezzanine

And in just one year, this straight world could pay to see what they have been missing





Rhyming shyness/highness/lioness immediately followed by clean/mezzanine is pretty dope.



The lyrics, the sincerity and the depth of the last six tracks, provide a wonderful contrast to the three rollicking tracks that flow together at the top of the album.

"