| · This year’s Sophtware Slump.
Every so often there’s a surprise transmission from the margins that blows everything else away. Okkervil River tread in similar waters as the alt-lensed epic folk of Bright Eyes, but while Conor Oberst seems to be running the risk of getting a little too big for his britches as of late (a typical scenario once one starts dating Winona Ryder – see Dave Pirner), the blokes behind Okkervil seem more than happy to dwell unknown in the shadows. You know the type – in it for the music and all.
"It Ends With a Fall" is a perfect cross-country drive singalong (dark, late at night when everyone else is asleep in the back), while "For the Enemy" starts quiet and turns gigantic and loud, like the finest moments of Mercury Rev and Neutral Milk Hotel. Bonus points for not only printing the title "The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion" right there on the back of the CD for all to see, but for making the song itself so memorable. Not much can be said for that half-man, half-squid album cover, but hey, at least they’re thinking big.
Opening with a home-recording of a group of grandmothers reminiscing around the piano (their wobbly run-through of "Down the River of Golden Dreams" gives the album its title), Okkervil River take aim at something classical and walk away leaving something altogether classic.
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