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Album Details

• Artist: Okkervil River
• Album: Black Sheep Boy
• Label: Jagjaguwar
• Year of Release: 2005
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: patchen on 2005-06-07

This would be the perfect soundtrack for Nick Cave's novel And The Ass Saw The Angel, his tale of Old Testament justice and fury in the deep Southern backwoods where more than few families have a relative chained in the basement and out of sight. Like the mad and obsessive characters in that gothic novel, Will Sheff has dug around and twisted what he could find to his own use: pedal steel country, psychedelic digressions, raging guitars, and created an homage to both a song and an idea. He also reveals a rather brittle psyche that threatens to unravel as we listen.
The title track is a cover by 60's cult fave Tim Hardin, himself a songwriter prone to expose his tenuous hold on his world. Sheff expands the idea in the song-a boy's transformation into a goat-into a cycle of songs that show the various pitfalls and risks of such a process. Word has it that originally, the songs were titled "Black Sheep 1" "Black Sheep 2,"etc., as he was writing them. The finished product is not so much a concept album as an emotional trip with a twisted guide. We know the ending, but the road is to it is more interesting.
By turns loud and grainy ("For Real", "the Latest Tough") and quiet and eerie ("In a Radio Song", "A Glow") the record progresses more or less toward profound meaning, coming up just short. The voice and the vision all come together in "So Come Back, I'm Waiting" and "Song of Our So-Called Friend", which are truly moving and frightening, and, at times, make one question Will Sheff's sanity. While such a question may not be a happy one for the singer personally, it has helped him drive a powerful and chilling record, Okkervil River's best to date.

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