Austin's Okkervil River released one of 2007's best albums, "The Stage Names," and it sounds like the group achieved a similar feat a year later.
When we talked to Okkervil songwriter Will Sheff last year, he considered "The Stage Names" the band's best work to date.
The follow-up, "The Stand Ins," recorded in the same sessions as "The Stage Names," was released this month and sounds like the former CD's swinging after-party.
After a brief instrumental interlude, the album opens with the bouncy, drifting "Lost Coastlines," with its Magnetic Fields-ish vocal-style switches and Sheff's always literary lyrics.
"And every night finds us rocking and rolling on waves wild and white, where we have lost our way, but no one will say it outright," he sings.
There's still no doubt half the pull of Okkervil is Sheff's knack for storytelling, found in jewels like the electric twang of "Singer Songwriter" and the slow-mover "On Tour With Zykos" — one of the few times things let up for a second.
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Musically, Okkervil brings the same sort of barroom Americana and folk-rock that has defined its recent success, full of strumming acoustic and electric guitars, blaring horns, atmospheric keyboards and punchy drums.
While the songs on "The Stand Ins" may not instantly grab you like some of the cuts off "The Stage Names" ("Our Life Is not a Movie or Maybe" or "Unless It Kicks"), this is a more upbeat and consistent album.
"The Stand Ins" starts out up and mostly stays that way, with all-out rockers like the excellent "Pop Lie" and the freewheeling "Calling and not Calling My Ex," full of ringing bells and piano.
Whatever led to the joint recording sessions for "The Stage Names" and "The Stand Ins," Okkervil seems to have caught lightning in a bottle, resulting in two albums of quality material.
Since the recording of both of these albums, Okkervil has lost some key members, including keyboardist Jonathan Meiburg, who is now with the band Shearwater.
It'll be interesting to see what the next Okkervil album sounds like, but we've got some good stuff to tide us over until then.
If you go
• What: Okkervil River in concert with Sea Wolf and Zykos.
• When: 8 p.m. Friday.
• Where: Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St.
• Cost: $12 in advance, $14 day of show.
• More info: okkervilriver.com and hotelcongress.com.
