Okkervil River: I Am Very Far

Label: Jagjaguwar

Okkervil River's sixth album is the band's most musically ambitious to date, produced by singer Will Sheff and bursting with grand, stirring arrangements. "The Valley" and "Wake and Be Fine" are intoxicatingly heavy—the Okkervil rhythm section is almost a lead instrument unto itself, and Sheff's vocal on the latter is among his finest moments—while "Rider" and "White Shadow Waltz" traffic in ecstatic orchestral rock, with piano-pounding and a sense of fullness that few bands even try to achieve. Meanwhile, "Hanging from a Hit" is a delicate and affecting number that, with all its echoey spaces, seems as influenced by early doo-wop as any rootsy sounds. Lyrically, Sheff takes a more introspective path than usual and pulls us into a haunted world of myths and dark dreamscapes, showing versatility while continuing to prove that he's one of the finest songwriters around (keep an eye out for a new, hardback collection of his lyrics, which shares its title with this album.)