OKKERVIL RIVER
When Will Sheff started writing the songs that would become Okkervil River’s eighth full-length release, Stay , everything seemed wrong. He had sat by his grandfather’s side as he wasted away and died in a hospice. The band had splintered, with members going off to start families and side-projects. But, hey, the music industry was collapsing anyway, so what did it all matter? Still, he felt a new batch of songs coming—songs about death, about the record industry, about hope and disappointment and loss. He didn’t know if he was going to make an Okkervil record, a solo album, or something else. He just needed to get away.
And so he did. Holing up in a friend’s house in the Catskills, he emerged with 12 songs. After Okkervil drummer Cully Symington called him about doing an off-the-cuff recording, Sheff assembled a ramshackle collection of avant-jazz players for a whirlwind two-day recording session. Once he was done, he still wasn’t sure exactly what he had—the songs were raw in sound and sentiment, featuring few upbeat tempos or singalong choruses—but after seeing so much in his life that had felt so wrong, these new songs just seemed right . Here, Sheff discusses the album’s unfiltered sound, how he sees his job as a songwriter, and how as he turns 40 he’s closer to channeling his inner child than ever before.
Matt Fink ( Under the Radar ): You’ve never made an album that sounded quite like
