John Allyn Smith Sails, by Okkervil River.
cw: suicide
Ugh, I know I’ve done some dark songs (er, there have been some drug references, folks), but this song is about a real-life poet whose father kills himself, and then he kills himself, and I’m fine, thanks for asking, honest! But also it’s just a great song that plays directly off the Sloop John B, which was such an incredibly dumb and basic and harmless song when I was a kid, and an easy way to say “I wanna go home.”
Plus Ones, by Okkervil River.
What, me? Enjoy a gimmicky, clever-as-heck song full of pop culture references? It’s The End of the World, but We Didn’t Start the Fire, OK?
This song always surprises me with the Greenpoint bar line, and I do enjoy it.
//
Left it raw as anything and all vulnerable, since I think that’s how a lot of this band’s songs go, but certainly this one.
A Girl In Port by Okkervil River.
I can only assume I first heard Okkervil River on NPR All Songs Considered, most likely in the years of my longest car commute, when podcasts dotted a landscape otherwise made up of recurring Arcade Fire, Vampire Weekend, torrented-and-burnt Kanye, and the like.
I was already half a decade late to this record then, but in 2007 I was probably stuck on Bright Eyes and not sleeping much, because parenting.
A guilty dissolve to merge two pieces after I messed up the last verse badly enough to ditch it. More production on my vocals would help here.
This song doesn’t feel five minutes long when they do it.