Will Sheff has one of the most distinctive voices in indie music.  It blends tones of desperation and storytelling that fit somewhere around a camp fire.  While on their first breakout release, Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River set out to tell elaborate fictional tale of a downtrodden boy, The Stand Ins, the band’s fifth LP, is a bit vaguer thematically but is held up by the tightness of the songwriting and performance.

The endless resource that is Wikipedia just informed me that if you line up the cover art for The Stage Names (4th LP) with The Stand In’s you’ll have a complete picture.  Also placing this release as a companion piece to last year’s stand out album.  Both of these albums flirt with celebrity and pop culture, but judging from the title and tone it’s an non-romanticized approach.

[mp3] Okkervil River - The Lost Coastlines

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