Okkervil River never shy away from the grandiose. Their latest release, The Stand Ins, is the second half to their previous album, The Stage Names. When lined up vertically, the cover art of the two combine to make one larger image. Viewed independently, though, each image is more representative of its album's themes.
The Stage Names was a celebration of sorts of a band finally achieving some level of acclaim. Since then, Okkervil has gone from opening for the New Pornographers to headlining over the Walkmen. The Stand Ins portrays a band that stumbled upon popularity and now has to cope with its secluding consequences. It's not that The Stage Names was overly bubbly, but on The Stand-Ins the group has had more time to reflect on their popularity and their place on a grander scale. Despite their best efforts, Will Sheff acknowledges on Singer Songwriter"" that ""our world is gonna change nothing.""
With a helping hand from the now full-time Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg, ""Lost Coastlines"" is as good as anything Sheff has ever written. Equal parts depressive and optimistic, the character ascends from the heartbreak of leaving a place where nobody wanted him to the giddiness of ""rocking and rolling on waves wild and white."" His tale of venturing into the vast unknown parallels the journey of the band from folk-rock darlings to bona fide stars.
It's a confusing scene rife with self-doubt, but there's not much to do but embrace it.
""Blue Tulip"" is probably the most monumental track on the album - their latest attempt at another rousing, heartfelt and anthemic ode to some intangible end. ""Blue Tulip"" isn't quite as good as ""Westfall"" (from Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See) or ""For Real"" (from Black Sheep Boy), but it's definitely passable.
What sets Okkervil apart is their ability to weave intricate emotions and storylines into their hooks. Most of their songs are good enough to stand without the lyrical depth, but they fill up on copious metaphors anyway. Maybe I'm alone in thinking this, but Sheff is both a better storyteller and songwriter than Colin Meloy. Comparisons to Steve Berman seem pretty cheap and are probably unfair to both parties for a few reasons, but it's not far-fetched to think Sheff has achieved a similar status.
If The Stage Names is the climax of Okkervil's story, then that leaves The Stand Ins, by default, to serve as the falling action. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Although it's not the most radical or life-altering piece of the plot, the falling action is when everything finally comes together. Oftentimes it's when potential comes to fruition.
In the end, The Stand Ins is still one of the worst Okkervil River albums. A few exceptions aside, each of these songs come up just short of their grandiose intentions. That being said, if this is the worst thing Okkervil ever records, it'll make a pretty devastating catalog. This isn't Okkervil's potential realized, but it's not their talent squandered either. It's just a pretty good album from a really good band.
