Perhaps the world
has been missing out this whole time…perhaps it has taken until their
third album for Okkervil River to absolutely nail their
songs. Ostensibly a bizarre concept record about a
half-sheep, half-boy, Okkervil River’s Black Sheep
Boy has all the magic realism of a Salman Rushdie
novel. It all comes down to frontman William Sheff,
who may be one of the great lyricists of the 21st Century.
It begins with a cover of Tim Hardin’s “Black Sheep
Boy”, from where the album takes its inspiration
and leaps off into the great unknown. It lasts a
brief one minute twenty seconds (give or take), but
from there the album is all the magic of Sheff – on “So
Real” he rails long and furiously, over a furiously
acoustic-based approach. As he voice veers from the
quiet calm of the verses to the yearning and powerful
choruses, Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy stakes
its claim as one of the albums of the year.
It’s not just in the lyrics either – the music
is nothing short of delightful, with pump organ from
Howard Draper on the opener, Wurlitzer filtering
throughout many songs, mandolin and vibraphone appearing
throughout, and a slew of guests on everything from
strings to bowed bass, samples, field recordings,
and the occasional splattering of trumpet and lap
steel guitar. Black Sheep Boy wows with its
aggressive intent on “So Real” and the screamed wrath
of “Black”, but also its stately beauty – “In a Radio
Song” is just gorgeous and perfectly put together,
as is “A King and a Queen”. Then a song like “The
Latest Toughs” is filled with so many hooks that
it can leave you dizzy.
Hailing from the musical hotbed of Austin, Texas
(the home of the fabled South By Southwest musical
festival), everything about Black Sheep Boy – from
the concept itself to the lyrics to the music to
the stunningly visual artwork from Willam Schaff,
Okkervil River’s long-term collaborator – is precise.
It’s also relatively concise: the album lasts a scant
forty-seven minutes or so, and demands repeat listens
such are its intricacies and many hidden delights.
But it must be listened to as a whole; this is an
album that is that in the very sense of the word.
Like the Decemberists’ Picaresque (a band
that Okkervil River have recently toured with), Black
Sheep Boy is brilliant from start to finish.
