The Stand Ins

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Critic Score
Based on 22 reviews
2008 Ratings: #62 / 806
Year End Rank: #23
User Score
Based on 62 ratings
2008 Rank: #98
Liked by 4 people
September 9, 2008 / Release Date
LP / Format
Jagjaguwar / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Entertainment Weekly

This Austin quintet follows 2007's The Stage Names with a second tour de force about the collateral damage of fame.

91
Paste
Okkervil River itself performs here with an organic ease that’s dramatic without reaching for histrionics, continuing to tattoo its rough folkish flesh with Motown horns, power-pop overdrive and chugging New Wave bass.
90
PopMatters

All of Sheff’s characters once again come to life on The Stand Ins. More stories are told from the first person than on The Stage Names, but the theme shines through.

83
The Line of Best Fit
This is an album that you can practically read as much as listen to. Its lyrical and emotional literacy feed the head as well as the heart, and that's a pretty pleasing statement to be able to make about a piece of music. I recommend it.
83
A.V. Club
Sheff's narratives are still generous with details about porn stars and bland rich kids but they're also more focused than before, sharply describing characters who embrace the lies they find in art or in their heads for the sake of sanity.
80
Drowned in Sound

The Stand Ins is assured, ambitious and occasionally transcendent in its appeal – a worthy expansion of its forerunner and standalone joy in itself.

80
Uncut

The Stand Ins stands out on its own merits, a trove of dazzlingly wittty songcraft.

80
The Guardian
The frustrated love Sheff puts into every Motown bassline, soaring brass section and uplifting chorus means the songs sound inspiring, not bleak.
80
Alternative Press
The pair of albums don't feel at all like a gimmick, but more like a labor of love that gives each of frontman Will Sheff's characters the appropriate amount of time to shine.
80
American Songwriter

The ambitious The Stand-Ins picks up right where last year’s masterpiece The Stage Names left off and further cements lead singer and songwriter Will Sheff’s reputation for being able to bring the characters in his songs to life without the benefit of his beloved silver screen.

80
Consequence of Sound

The Stand-Ins is far from being relegated as the bastard sister release. It’s well written, lyrically concise, and instrumentally sound. The only difference is that it’s without the charm of it’s brother.

80
No Ripcord

The Stand Ins is a solid achievement cut from the same charming cloth, even if it doesn’t crisp in quite the same way The Stage Names did.

80
SPIN

The Stand Ins, is packed with the same compound sentences, sprawling narratives, and precarious, barn-dance guitars that made its companion piece, 2007's The Stage Names, so weirdly gripping.

80
musicOMH

Though it stands up well enough on its own The Stand Ins does feel like a follow-up, rather than something completely new and fresh and forward looking, and it is not as instantly gripping as The Stage Names, it takes longer to wind your way into your mind.

80
Pitchfork

Life was a crummy movie on Okkervil River's breakthrough album, The Stage Names. On The Stand Ins, it's a lousy rock show. As the interchangeable titles and puzzle-piece album covers imply, this new record is an extension of its predecessor, a further untangling of themes and ideas about music, art, celebrity, love, and the folly of it all. The Stand Ins doesn't quite match the gusto and brainy emotionalism of The Stage Names but it exceeds its bleakness. Pop songs lie, tortured singer-songwriters are wealthy narcissists, groupies have regrets, music scenes wither, nothing changes. Rock promises redemption but delivers only destruction, or at best, cultish relative obscurity. Okkervil River are the anti-Hold Steady. They should tour together.

79
Coke Machine Glow

If these two albums had been released as a unified double-disc album as was originally intended I would have been forced to put it solidly among last year’s best on the strength of its overall accomplishment. But it wasn’t. They were released as distinct (though interrelated) albums, and this one is better.

70
Slant Magazine

It's a straight line from Pet Sounds to Pulp's Different Class, and while Stand Ins and its predecessor share R&B riffs affected with a country twang, connecting this latest dip in the Okkervil to a '90s Pulp-y-ness is a refreshing move.

70
AllMusic

Stand Ins glows a little less bright than its predecessor, but it shines nonetheless.

70
Tiny Mix Tapes

Though Sheff’s lyrics can be too earnest sometimes, there’s no doubt he’s one of the most exciting songwriters of recent years, and The Stand Ins is another fine entry in the band’s discography.

60
Under the Radar

The Stand Ins has its moments of enlightment, but, as a whole, it's a distant cousin to a far superior record.

60
The Skinny
Will Sheff is mostly concerned with the troubled minds of those on the fringes of fame, and thanks to tracks like Singer-Songwriter, where he gleefully dissects the faults of a self-obsessed muso, and On Tour With Zykos, where he depicts the regretful hurt of a rock star’s latest disposed one night stand, it’s difficult to think of a current indie-rock lyricist who can match him.
60
Rolling Stone

Like its predecessor, The Stand Ins also continues to stretch the band's mopey sound.

rguitar
99

I love this album so much,
It's hard for me to explain why other than that it's just great.
Like an excellent book.
Fav song - on tour with zykos

84

Operating almost more like a short film than an album, “The Stand Ins” combines the bombast and ambition of 2000s indie rock with the cleverness and quirk of 2000s indie folk, all in one catchy and instantly enjoyable package. Experts at forward momentum, Okkervil River are thrilling whether on rollicking stompers that kick off the album, or the proggier but focused chamber folk pieces that follow. All in all, a great album—and I’m told it’s not even their best, so ... read more

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Track List

  1. Stand Ins, One
  2. Lost Coastlines
  3. Singer Songwriter
  4. Starry Stairs
  5. Blue Tulip
  6. Stand Ins, Two
  7. Pop Lie
  8. On Tour with Zykos
  9. Calling and Not Calling My Ex
  10. Stand Ins, Three
  11. Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed on the Roof of the Chelsea Hotel, 1979
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