On “Nothing Special,” Will Sheff, of Okkervil River, surveys the ecstasies and the devastations of getting older and giving up on some things.
In the late nineteen-nineties, the singer and songwriter Will Sheff founded Okkervil River, a bony, urgent indie-rock band—later a kind of collective—named for a short story by the Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya. Sheff and his bandmates had gone to boarding school at Kimball Union Academy, in New Hampshire; after graduation, they had relocated to Austin, where similar acts such as Spoon, . . .
These days, Sheff said, rather than seek to capture the abandon and euphoria preached by writers such as Arthur Rimbaud and Dylan Thomas, he hopes to simply “embroider things with a little bit of beauty.” Accordingly, “Nothing Special” is easy to like. Sheff crafts lilting, catchy melodies that feel effortless and soothing, and he has recruited a crackerjack band , which adds a gorgeous haze of pump organ, vibraphone, Mellotron, synthesizer, and guitar.
“Nothing Special” can feel anachronistic, insofar as it is not the kind of record that lights up Instagram or TikTok. Its songs are unhurried, searching, and airy. Still, Sheff is conscious of rhythm, and, despite his focus on lyrical clarity and intelligence, “Nothing Special” is not without groove or body.
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