Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River's fourth full-length release, opens with a cover of Tim Hardin's \Black Sheep Boy"" and quickly evolves into a thematic concept album of staggering skill. Appropriating the emotion of Hardin's song, frontman Will Sheff puts on a songwriting clinic, expanding the black-sheep theme into a rollicking album of allegory and emotion.
Okkervil River's sound could be described as alt-Americana-it's country and folk, indie-rock and emo. However, even that mash of qualifications fails to properly describe what Black Sheep Boy pumps into your ears and veins. These songs are simple and rustic on first listen, lush and complex on the second. There's steely guitar, organs, horns, strings, keyboards, piano, drums-the musical instrumentation on Black Sheep Boy poses subtle challenges that slowly unravel through multiple listens.
It is amazing, then, that Sheff's vocals are able to match this power and complexity. Swinging from high and thin whispers to thick country melodies, Sheff's voice becomes as unique as Jeff Tweedy, Thom Yorke or Connor Oberst. Despite hints of those three scattered among the record, Sheff's voice is distinctively his own.
Of the ten songs that follow the Hardin cover, almost every single one deserves attention. Ultra-delicate tracks like ""In a Radio Song (Black Sheep Boy 3),"" ""A King and Queen"" and ""Song of Our So-Called Friend"" are outstanding. In particular, ""In a Radio Song"" features Sheff frequently floating into falsetto as he recounts a disturbing dream, singing, ""I rose from a dream / we were running from every being that was hunting / but we let them get ahead of us, we let them lie in wait for us / We're fucked, we're fucked, we're fucked."" Sheff is able to pour forth quiet desperation without sounding ridiculous, and that is an impressive feat.
""Black"" and ""The Latest Troughs"" are both noteworthy rock songs full of poetic lyrics. ""Black's"" frustrated-love tale is especially moving, as Sheff comforts an abused girlfriend, howling, ""Don't you realize that I wouldn't pause / that I would cut him down with my claws / if I could have somehow never let that happen?""
Following ""Black"" is a mixed duet featuring Amy Annelle, entitled ""Get Big."" This is a slow, heavy, country song and does not pretend to be anything else. Annelle portrays a frustrated lover preparing to go out for a weekend of presumed cheating, and all Sheff can say in response is ""I won't ask where you've been / Live your lost weekend, I know you've wanted it / Get big, little kid."" Sheff and Annelle's voices form a beautiful mix, but the entire track is elevated by the subtle hopelessness of Sheff's lyrics.
However, the song that best encapsulates Black Sheep Boy's lyrical mastery is the second track on the album, which immediately follows the titular Hardin cover. ""For Real,"" with its rhythmic repetition of the words ""real"" and ""really,"" is a vigorous exercise in wordplay put to rock that is, initially, deceivingly simple. The song is an exploration of what it means to be honest, genuine and ""real""-filled with imagery like, ""Sometimes the blood from real cuts feels real nice when it's really mine / and if you want it to be real, come over for a night / we can really, really climb.""
It is no exaggeration to say that Will Sheff and Okkervil River have really crafted a really, really beautiful record in Black Sheep Boy-one that has a real chance of being one of the best albums of the year.
