It's fantastic to see a great band unafraid to develop their sound and leave familiar territory behind. It's not like Okkervil River's music has ever been stagnant, no two albums have had the same sound with the exception of 'The Stage Names' and 'The Stand Ins' both from the same recording session, but 'I am Very Far' is still a departure. Great songwriting has been a calling card ofIt's fantastic to see a great band unafraid to develop their sound and leave familiar territory behind. It's not like Okkervil River's music has ever been stagnant, no two albums have had the same sound with the exception of 'The Stage Names' and 'The Stand Ins' both from the same recording session, but 'I am Very Far' is still a departure. Great songwriting has been a calling card of Okkervil River for as long as they've been around. Pushing forward into new soundscapes which deflect, for better or worse, from the immediacy of Will Sheff''s vocals and therefore from the songs lyrical content is a bold move but one that has paid off. Give the album a few listens and it's soon clear that the unparalleled songwriting is still there; the lyrics on I am Very Far are as good as any Sheff has ever put out, but here without the apparent narrative arc over the course of the album that we're used to from Okkervil River. That said, despite the absence of a clear concept as with Black Sheep Boy (which is being mentioned in every review), there is a lot going on in this album for fans of OR to pore over; the word "throat" appears in more than half of the songs on the album in some outstanding lines: "A slit throat makes a note like a raw winter wind. We were piled in the river with the rock and roll skinned." ..off the album opener..and:
"Your throat, where it's exposed, looks like a crime, I'll sneak-up slow and whisper quiet. Your pretty face looks like an island rising from a sea that's slowly drying." -vintage Will Sheff in 'Your Past Life as a Blast' The first song in which "throat" doesn't figure mentions "torn breaths"; in the closing track "the ladies coughed and cried, "I don't want to be there when it's time", so don't think that this album is a collection of entirely unrelated songs, there is a lot going on here. The musical styles on the other hand are disparate and new to the Okkervil oeuvre. The music on 'I am Very Far' is lush, multi-layered and almost entirely upbeat, and makes for a rewarding close listen from the disco bass line in 'Piratess' to the slow burning Hanging from a Hit (almost superceding 'Your Past Life as a Blast' as my favourite track) to the driving 'Wake and Be Fine'. Although there is a distant echoey quality and ghostly backing vocal to several songs, almost every track has its own distinct sound, quite an achievement and something which might also explain the wide divergence in opinion on how well 'I am Very Far' works as an album. Noted for their outstanding live performances 'I am Very Far' appears more ready for the live show, with its enlarged sound and upbeat tempo, than anything they've done since barnstorming tracks like 'Westfall' off their major label debut 'Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See'. If Okkervil's performance on David Letterman last night is anything to go by, the upcoming tour is not to be missed. (Disclosure: I'm a rather devoted Okkervil River fan...)… Collapse