Austin, Texas, indie-rock act Okkervil River’s 2007 album, The Stage Names, was a bit of a breakthrough, but this year’s The Stand Ins proves we should have been paying attention all along. Front man Will Sheff injects pathos and wonderment into nearly every word he sings, making a track like “Lost Coastlines” both a rollicking high-sea adventure and a vessel for inchoate yearning. The album’s closer, a shout-out to notorious glam-rock failure Jobriath, is a tender tribute to disappointment.
The Stand Ins
Jagjaguwar
Out now
$14.98
