“It Was My Season”- Okkervil River
The hyper-literate Austin, Texas band Okkervil River are prepping their new LP The Silver Gymnasium for release on September 3, as a follow-up to 2011’s I Am Very Far. Returning to the concept-album successes of Black Sheep Boy and The Stage Names, frontman Will Sheff writes on Twitter: “the new record takes place in 1986 in a small town in New Hampshire.” A trotting piano-figure embodies that small-town feeling and summons up the spirit of the past. Sheff is haunted by that spirit, recalling a time when “my mind was just revving.” The sort of time when even the smallest pain felt like a mortal wound no heart could overcome. “I won’t say I’m sorry, and how would they know? Below the Atari, well I could feel your heart was just going,” Sheff sings. For some in the midst of a great ride all that starts to matter is when will it end? As a crescendo builds with the piano and drums, Sheff accepts “that was our season,” feebly attempting to salvage what is now rubble. By the end, Sheff looks back on the fog of the past and chalks it up to being “mixed up,” but still remembers “that head filled with doubt.” Sometimes, there’s just no making sense of a time when logic was the last thing on anyone’s mind.
Listen to the new track here and look for Okkervil River in the Fall in the following cities:
August 24th – Monterey, CA – First City Festival
September 7th – Boston, MA – Boston Calling Festival
September 19th – Mobile, AL – Alabama Music Box
September 21st – Atlanta, GA – Variety Playhouse
September 23rd – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
September 26th – New York, NY – Terminal 5
September 27th – Ithaca, NY- The Haunt
September 28th – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
September 29th – Cleveland, OH – Beachland Ballroom
October 1st – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
October 2nd – Little Rock, AR – Revolution
October 4th – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits
October 11th – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits
October 18th – El Paso, TX – Tricky Falls
October 19th – Phoenix, AZ – The Crescent Ballroom
October 20th – Los Angeles, CA – The Wiltern
October 24th – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
October 25th – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
October 26h – Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre
November 1st – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
November 2nd – Chicago, IL – Metro