Okkervil River: Black Sheep Boy Appendix : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Okkervil River frontman Will Sheff left indie-rock fans and critics clamoring for more when his Texas-by-way-of-New-Hampshire trio released the lovely alt-country opus Black Sheep Boy last April. Like that album, Black Sheep Boy Appendix -- a seven-song addendum to his folk fairy tale -- has the dusty feel of some long-lost precious thing you found in your attic. Sheff knows his way around a mournful country song, as he shows on the harmonica-laced ballad "Black Sheep Boy #4"; "No Key, No Plan" is a rollicking, rockish barnburner. Sheff uses everything from theremin and toy piano to violin and bracing trumpets to fit his finely drawn, often menacing imagery and shows off his well-tuned ear for the rhythm of language: "Words falling down from the ceiling/Where the mirror is stealing the light to reveal us both tonight." If you're already an acolyte, Black Sheep Boy Appendix is what you've been waiting for with bated breath; if you're not a fan, you may well be soon.