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May 10, 2011It's no longer the Okkervil River of The Stage Names or Black Sheep Boy, and that's a plus: I Am Very Far signals that the band's gifts with song and sentiment were never tied to specificity.
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Alternative PressMay 16, 2011It's a refreshing turn from a band who easily churned out more of the same to little complaint. [Jun 2011, p.109]
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May 13, 2011Yet with such a superb back catalog and a stellar new record to boot, the question now becomes how – or if – Okkervil River will be able to top itself the next time around.
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May 10, 2011I Am Very Far is certainly one of the best records of the year, but looking at this stretch of recordings with such a finite lens is doing them a disservice: this is music to cherish forever.
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May 9, 2011Fans who approach I Am Very Far carrying expectations informed by the group's earlier releases will no doubt find this to be Okkervil River's most challenging work to date, but it's also the group's most grandiose, thrilling, and brilliant.
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May 6, 2011Both a likely contender for the finest indie rock record of the year, then, and a breathtakingly chaotic venture far beyond that genre's remit.
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May 12, 2011It's Kafka meets Mahler at the hipster club, and it's easily one of the musical highlights of the year.
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Jun 1, 2011The feel is melancholic and reflective, despite being punctuated by a few uptempo tracks, but the urgency of Sheff's vocals and rich, layered arrangements make I Am Very Far both fascinating and memorable.
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MojoJun 21, 2011The Lou Reed-approved alt-country band's sixth album. [July 2011, p. 105]
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Q MagazineMay 31, 2011Bands aren't suppose to peak on their sixth album, but Okkervil Rover are more tortoise than hare and they've been building towards I Am Very Far since they convened back in 1998. [Jun 2011, p.118]
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May 19, 2011Epic and intimate, serious and playful, Okkervil River's third album is genuinely awe inspiring, growing with each replaying.
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May 19, 2011Okkervil River has never provided easy answers in their albums--unless you read the many interviews with Sheff, who always seems willing to explain what he can--and I Am Very Far is another fine album in an increasingly finer canon.
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May 16, 2011The resulting I Am Very Far, which was produced by Sheff, feels both transitory and triumphant, successfully integrating the Austin, Texas-based collective's penchant for lovelorn, indie Americana with the wild abandon of 21st century pop music's increasingly blurry genre borders.
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UncutMay 13, 2011The noise they make is thrilling. [Jun 2011, p.78]
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May 10, 2011The results are simultaneously raw and symphonic, always ascending higher while on the verge of total collapse.
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May 10, 2011I Am Very Far is certainly a more enthralling listen than The Stand Ins was; though it may lack some of the emotional impact of Down the River of Golden Dreams, or especially Black Sheep Boy, the album remains a welcomed addition into the work of a band who commands great quality-control.
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May 9, 2011The album never holds its shape-and that lack of shape, somehow, is what defines it.
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May 5, 2011Perhaps Okkervil River just think the most interesting music usually inhabits the grey areas, a theory I Am Very Far does a lot to support.
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May 2, 2011Each song revisits some real or imagined past that leaves the narrator empty-handed or disappointed, culminating in the impassioned mid-album plea for faith and renewal.
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May 9, 2011Even so, it comes as a relief that the song doesn't end with a big, fiery finale. Instead, the band lets The Rise fray apart on its own, a quiet conclusion to a lyrically and musically feisty album.
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Entertainment WeeklyMay 24, 2011The Texas indie outfit marries potent frontier imagery with psych-country shuffles. [20 May 2011, p.72]
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May 19, 2011The smooth shape of this album - there's no rising or falling action - and lack of a big concept won't replace 2005's Black Sheep Boy for diehard fans, just as the superior The Stand-Ins didn't in 2008. But Elvis Costello fans should holler.
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Apr 29, 2011Sheff is he orchestrator, but through all the manipulating elements, all the new band members, Sheff seems to be more at odds with his art than ever before.
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May 23, 2011All that's clear in Far is that something wicked is on its way. That its shape can't be discerned only makes it more sinister.
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May 10, 2011This album isn't going to isolate fans of Okkervil's older material, but it is going to require an acceptance that change has arrived.
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May 9, 2011Part of the problem with I Am Very Far is that he's felt too much. It's impacting to the point of bruising.
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May 9, 2011While the rich palette and varied arrangements are welcome, they also put load-bearing pressure on Mr. Sheff's songs, which feel intended more for evasive maneuvers.
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May 6, 2011Much more petulant and moodier than previous albums, I Am Very Far swirls around in an illusory motion in which all manner of sounds and textures spin and whirl around the ubiquitous figure of Will Sheff; unwavering and untouchable, residing within the heart of the album's hidden emotions.
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May 12, 2011It's a scattershot collection of rougher material, lacking the concision and continuity that made 2003's Down the River of Golden Dreams and 2007's The Stage Names such defining works.
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May 17, 2011I Am Very Far can only be considered a stumble or misstep on a steeply curved scale, yet it proves, even as the shock of the musical pomposity fades and familiarity sets in, to be a less emotionally generative return to the same wells from which Sheff has long drawn.
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May 13, 2011With no connecting thread or great songwriting, I Am Very Far is difficult to engage with. It has its moments, of course, but the more I listen, the more I think of it as a creative palette cleanser -- a chance to try out a few ideas while planning the next big song cycle.
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May 9, 2011Okkervil River comes into its own when he forces some particularly oblique and unique strategies into practice.
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May 6, 2011As is, I Am Very Far is far from a lot of things, the biggest among these is the high bar that Okkervil River has never had a problem exceeding, until now.
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Jan 3, 2012While it is more realized than previous effort The Stand Ins, Okkervil River is showing potential for new direction more than they are showing versatility.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 17 out of 18
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Mixed: 1 out of 18
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Negative: 0 out of 18
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May 11, 2011
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May 14, 2011
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Jun 27, 2011