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Okkervil River – For Real
Zak Margolis

23 October 2006 4 Comments | written by: Los

OKKERVIL

I wouldn’t particular call myself a fan of country or folk, however, I do find myself indulging within both genres from time to time. I’m a sucker for ladies such as Neko Case and Jenny Lewis (with her twins). And bands such as My Morning Jacket, Bright Eyes, and Calexico seem to always catch my attention. One other band that I can always seem to count on to suck me in would be the fellas of Okkervil River.

I’ve been hooked since I saw them, by accident, open for The Elected. Having no prior knowledge of any of their songs, I enjoyed them casually until they played their closer “Kansas City” (off their second LP Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See). As it unfolded upon my wide eyes and I saw each bandmate pouring their hearts and souls out through their instruments, I became overpowered with wonder. How is it that I never heard this song before? Never drank to this song before? Never cried to this song before? Never been angry to this song before? Never felt this song before? With that performance, singer Will Sheff destroyed any chance at fading away to oblivion in my mind and I’m sure the rest of the audience as well, at the tiny show.

Now, I’m a bit late with this, but that doesn’t mean there is no room at this site for this shot off of their most recent album Black Sheep Boy. “For Real” is pretty much an introduction to the title character off of this concept album sprung out of the imagination of Sheff. I’d explain more about the video, but instead I’ll leave you a link below to Sheff’s actual commentary concerning the meanings and origins of many of the images in the shot as well as the method behind director Zak Margolis’ madness. What I will say however, is when Sheff tears into the line “You can’t hide” over and over, you get a real sense of the power, passion, hurt and the all out feeling his voice commands. It’s a force to be reckoned with on your stereo just as much as it is live.

I’m super proud to bless you animals with a video from Okkervil River, you’re appreciation is welcome.

Shouts to Chromewaves for the heads up on this and the happenings not only with Okkervil River, but many a fine band as well. Muchas Gracias!


Okkervil River – For Real
Directed by Zak Margolis

VIEW

VIEW
Will Sheff Commentary

DOWNLOAD
Quicktime 7 (iPod compatible: 24.5 MB)


Buy Black Sheep Boy!

Buy Black Sheep Boy Appendix!

4 Comments »

  • George said:

    I’ve gotten lost in the lyrics and the animation. I’m not sure I can come out right away. It seems very literal. Wanting to bleed with a knife in your hands. What disturbs me more then anything is that their isn’t a shot of the father (?) after he turns his son(?) into a monster but chases after him when released from the monster.

    # 24 October 2006 at 5:28 pm
  • Matthew said:

    I accidentally ran across this album a few months back and realized that it was something different. It conveyed a powerful emotion without seeming cliched and overdone. I appreciate that someone else knows that this band exsists as well.

    # 28 October 2006 at 5:44 am
  • chuck said:

    Very hard to follow. It makes my spirit die and perish in the burning light of the devil. But it is an O.K. song that makes me depressed :)

    # 8 July 2007 at 5:18 pm
  • my brothers plagerist said:

    reading from his forest book, the hunchback says:

    The man in the car is the father–look at the name on his radio!–the boy is either the man’s past self or his son, and the girl is…well, a girl. It seems the video is a cross between unspoken family history and the boy’s dream. The boy–who was probably already a man when the dream occurred–appears to be working through some relationship issue he has with the father, and with the girl.

    The father takes the son on a picnic in the forest, but instead of food, there is an old radio to eat. The father’s music wraps around the son, and the father is happy, maybe proud, maybe even obsessed with the fact that his music is “changing” his son. But things spin out of control and the boy becomes something monstrous, something unrecognizable, and only the girl realizes that this monstrosity has devoured the boy.

    The father, the beast, and the girl all have menacing qualities. The father watches passively, as if from the past, while his son suffers; the girl wields a “dark blade,” and the beast is, you know, a beast. But they are also all somehow familiar, or at least not total enemies.

    So she allows the beast–who is dressed like the father–to also devour her, after which she cuts her way into its body/history (notice the bits of memory and trash within the monster’s body–a metaphor for personal history), retrieving the boy by making an incision, a wound, at the beast’s heart.

    It is a great metaphor for modern love: the video ends with them all running: girl and boy in front, followed closely by the monster (who does not die, even though he has been mortally wounded), and, behind them, the father whose music is the source of BOTH destruction in the past and hope in the future (toward which they are running).

    So we never leave our monsters behind, but maybe a girl can help us get a little distance in front of it? Maybe she is the one who is unafraid enough to engage our monstrous qualities in search of something more innocent? Or, the father’s “music” is both poison and remedy, causing the very suffering that will allow us to create the stories that redeem him? OR: monsters rock!

    i did not write this… my brother did. but i feel it just fine.

    # 20 July 2007 at 3:06 pm