Live in Concert
Okkervil River Live, 'I Am Very Far'
April 27, 2011Okkervil River's highly anticipated new album, I Am Very Far, won't be released until May 10. But the band gave a sneak preview of the new music in a performance from KUT's Cactus Cafe.
Okkervil River's music is most often pegged as alt-country. That tag isn't wrong, but it feels maddeningly inadequate when you consider the breadth of the band's last few releases.
Since 2005's critically acclaimed Black Sheep Boy, the Austin group has made its trade in grand, quasi-concept albums whose dense lyrics and sprawling arrangements demand multiple listens. The country instrumentation is there: acoustic guitars, banjos, mandolins, muted horns and more. But frontman Will Sheff has been broadening his reach as a songwriter with each new set of material, embracing shout-along power-pop one moment and intimate folk the next.
After playing backing band to psych-rocker Roky Erickson on last year's True Love Cast Out All Evil, Okkervil River is set to release its first proper album since 2008. I Am Very Far won't be released until May 10. But the band gave a sneak preview of the new music in a performance of the entire record live from KUT's Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas.
Credits
KUT, XI Media, NPR; photo by Jeff Heimsath/Courtesy of KUT
Comments
Please keep your community civil. All comments must follow the NPR.org Community rules and terms of use. See also the Community FAQ.
NPR reserves the right to read on the air and/or publish on its website or in any medium now known or unknown the e-mails and letters that we receive. We may edit them for clarity or brevity and identify authors by name and location. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Use.