Since forming nearly two decades ago, Okkervil River have been through many changes both in terms of their sound and when it comes to their personnel. Anchoring the band all this time has been frontman and principal songwriter Will Sheff. Collaborating with different musicians for each album – and sometimes bringing back old band mates – has prevented Sheff from ever being static. Each Okkervil River stands alone as its own musical and lyrical concept. Such is the case with the recently released LP Away, which is undoubtedly Sheff’s deepest venture into pop music to date. Interestingly, the album is also more acoustic than previous releases. It was these songs, played by Sheff and an entirely new cast of musicians, that made up the bulk of Okkervil River’s set at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland on Friday, October 7th.
The stage setup was immediately striking, seemingly to fit the season as much as the more personal nature of the songs on Away. Autumn leaves wrapped around the microphones and four lamps flanked the stage, the back of which featured a painting of the album cover. All of this gave the show a cozy, cabin-like living room atmosphere. Will Sheff was in good spirits as he kicked off the set with “Okkervil River R.I.P.”, a mostly acoustic song that, despite its troubling name, seems to signal more of a change of old ways than a death of the band. Other new songs, like “Call Yourself Renee”, seemed to revel in subtlety while “The Industry” felt like a nostalgia-seeped morsel of pop confection. The songs off the band’s 2007 album The Stage Names played an almost equal role in the set as the new songs, and the exuberant rock of tunes like “Plus Ones” and “Unless It’s Kicks” fit in well with the new material.
Many longtime fans of Okkervil River would argue that the band’s finest moment came on their 2005 LP Black Sheep Boy. This album featured some of Sheff’s darkest and moody songwriting as well as lush instrumentation. However, those expecting to see Okkervil River circa Black Sheep Boy were given something quite different in Portland. Only two songs from that album would make an appearance in the set, “For Real” and “So Come Back, I Am Waiting”, and those were reworked to sound funkier, more upbeat, and poppy. With those songs and other old ones in the set, the only part that was musically recognizable was the voice of Will Sheff. For longtime fans this may have been something of a disappointment, but ultimately it’s refreshing to see an artist like Sheff who adamantly refuses to do the same thing twice. Unlike the title of the title of the show’s opening song, it was clear that Okkervil River is far from resting in piece.
