The best band of the 21st century is back less then a year after their last album was released. The Stand-Ins is a collection of tracks left over from The Stage Names sessions (it was originally supposed to be a double-album) and much like the Black Sheep Boy Appendix, it continues on the themes of it's sister album with a similar music style. Unlike the aforementioned EP, The Stand-Ins is a full length album. That's right, 40 more minutes of folksy rock and roll awesomeness! The album has 7 new songs, 3 short interludes, and a previously released (and totally amazing) b-side "Starry Stairs". Much like The Stage Names, the songs are split between slow burning mid-tempo tracks and rollicking, upbeat jams. The former includes songs like the organ-laced "Blue Tulip", the piano/guitar led "On Tour With Zykos" and the lovely closing track "Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979", these tracks really highlight Will Sheff's songwriting (which is incredible on every track anyways) and the band's ability to stay out of the way, yet still create beautiful arrangements that eventually unfold into some fantastic instrumental break. The upbeat tracks include the Sheff/Jonathon Meiburg duet "Lost Coastlines", the pounding, beat influenced "Singer-Songwriter", the synth (SYNTH!) and guitar dueling "Pop Lie", and the folky "Calling and Not Calling My Ex". These songs are Okkervil River at their loosest, and really show the band just having fun. They are a lot more detailed than the faster tracks on The Stage Names, weaving in more instruments with more complex arrangements. All in all, it'll take many listens to find where this album fits in with Okkervil River's catalog. It's certainly no Black Sheep Boy, but it's much more promising than The Stage Names, and more mature than the band's first two albums. We'll just have to see...Listen ("Lost Coastlines [Live]")
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