Okkervil River: Running 'Very Far'

6/6/11
entertainment
By Charles Devilbiss

Okkervil River: Running 'Very Far'

Photo credit: Handout

Call them pretentious, call them brilliant, call them what you will - the albums of Okkervil River align with all the expectations of Big Important Art, and they are discussed accordingly.

Dense with allusions and thorny wordplay, the songwriting of bandleader Will Sheff, 34, rewards close listening, but the meanings are often thankfully elusive, hidden amid thickets of thundering percussion or suspended by a sparely strummed acoustic guitar.

The band's latest album, "I Am Very Far," debuted at No. 31 on the Billboard charts, marking the band's first appearance in the Top 40.

At the onset of their national tour, amNY chatted with Sheff.

You've said you think this is your best record yet. Honestly, isn't that always the case?
I do think that, and it's never a lie. It's always a reflection of feeling where I am at that time. So, yeah - probably in two years, I'll have completely moved on from this "I Am Very Far" sort of place and be like, "F--- that, let's do some throat singing. That's what I'm into now."

So what feelings did this record reflect?
It felt like after being an awkward teenager, growing up and becoming an adult. And the word "adult" carries a lot of baggage with it - it's kind of scary, like "adult contemporary." But I always thought of adulthood as really fascinating and complex. That's when people are having affairs and cheating on each other and becoming morally compromised. So this is my creepy, adult, dark, nuanced, having-an-affair record. As opposed to Sting.

You produced this record yourself, as you did for your recent collaboration with psych-rock legend Roky Erickson. Did it get any easier?
It was easier. There were major, major challenges, but when you are doing something you love, you don't ever want to complain about that. You don't want to feel like you're ungratefully bitching about how hard it is to get to make your dreams be real [laughs]. It's a pretty amazing job.

You relocated to Brooklyn from Austin. Do you like living here?
I love living here, [but] I think I've kind of gotten spoiled, too. I always wanted to go back to the country, but now I think I would be like, "There's no good Argentinean restaurant within walking distance!"

If you go: Okkervil River is at Terminal 5 Tuesday at 8 p.m. 610 W. 56th St., 212-582-6600, $30
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