Memories of adolescence tend to be peppered with moments of mortification: Puberty, first kisses, monumental heartbreaks, awkward attempts at experimentation, initial encounters with real world vices and the last dwindling bits of innocence between the final days of grade school and the moment we move into our freshman dorms. Revisiting these milestones can be a painful endeavor, but for Will Sheff of Okkervil River, it proved inspiring.
Their first record since 2011's I Am Very Far,… more »
Whether you're happily married or told Cupid to shove it a long time ago, we can all agree on one thing: to quote the one-and-only Nazareth, "Love hurts/ Love scars/ Love wounds/ And mars." Or something.
That's why we went ahead and compiled a list of 36 Songs To Soothe the Pain, from the bloodletting confessionals of Neko Case, Bright Eyes and Sunny Day Real Estate to the melancholic melodies of Sigur Rós, the Shangri-Las… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
There's no better anchor for Okkervil River's brawny, brainy art-rock than the band's hyper-articulate frontman, Will Sheff: His vocals rush and recede, swell and shrink, changing every few bars to better suit the stories he tells.
eMusic's Amanda Petrusich spoke with Sheff — fresh off a week of doctor-ordered voice-rest — about ditching the concept album, living in New York, keeping quiet and pursuing "a bigness that's not polite."
I'm glad to hear that you're able to… more »
