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Okkervil River
BLACK SHEEP BOY
(Jagjaguwar)
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Like recent tour mate Colin Meloy of the Decemberists, Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff views his gently rocking indie folk as a means to a storytelling end. On this Austin-based band’s fourth album, Sheff spins the misadventures of the title character, who’s an outgrowth of the song of the same name by "If I Were a Carpenter" songwriter Tim Hardin. There’s no point rehashing the tale here, since despite his literary ambitions Sheff is a song guy, not a book guy: "Remember when our so-called friend would not call out to you while tumbling loosely out a hole punched through your home" may not be Hemingway, but sung in Sheff’s cracked Dust Bowl rasp, the line communicates his attempt to grapple with life’s inevitabilities, and that’s what makes Black Sheep Boy, like the Decemberists’ recent Picaresque, worth hearing. Sheff melds words and music together, mirroring "a drive into the dark stretch of night" with spooky reverbed guitars and "a black little wind" with ghostly acoustic ones. (Okkervil River headline this Monday, May 9, at T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street in Central Square; call 617-492-BEAR.)
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