An Okkervil River Australian Tour 2014 has been announced, following the overnight reveal that the band would be playing as part of the Perth Festival 2014 lineup.
Dust off those hoverboards, because for their impending Australian tour Texan-bred indie folk-rockers Okkervil River are heading back in time! We’re not talking about their impressive resume of visiting our country which extends all the way back to 2005 – this will be their sixth Australian sojourn – but rather their recently-released, retro-tastic album The Silver Gymnasium, which finds them travelling back to those glory days (for some) of the 1980s!
For the seventh Okkervil River long-player, enigmatic and super-literate frontman Will Sheff – who writes all of the band’s material as well as lending his inimitable voice to bring it to life – concocted a series of vignettes based on his hometown of Meriden, New Hampshire and his memories of the rural outpost circa 1986.
The album’s title is taken from the gym at the boarding school which Sheff attended, The Silver Gymnasium was not only salivated over by critics but also reached No 7 in the US Billboard 200, Okkervil River’s highest place to date by a considerable margin.
While there are mild flourishes of ‘80s pomp and production amidst The Silver Gymnasium’s tracks, for the most part these songs continue the natural and fascinating evolution of the Okkervil River sound which has been transpiring over the last 15 years, across an impressive discography of winding narratives and knotty lyricism.
Starting with their 2002 debut album Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See, through to their highly acclaimed 2005 masterpiece Black Sheep Boy, the two-part, conceptually-linked The Stage Names and The Stand-Ins, from 2007 and 2008 respectively, and 2011’s I Am Very Far.
Local fans will attest from previous visits that Okkervil River are an extremely well-drilled and evocative live proposition, so it will be exciting to watch them bring these time-travelling new tunes to life when they return to Australia next February for the Perth Festival and accompanying headline gigs in Melbourne and Sydney!
Okkervil River Australian Tour 2014
Presented by Handsome Tours, supported by Triple R and Tone Deaf
Sydney: 21st Feb, Oxford Art Factory
Melbourne: 22nd Feb, Corner Hotel
Tickets for all shows on sale now through www.handsometours.com
Okkervil River will also appear at Perth Festival, details here.
