Black Sheep Boy by Okkervil River

Black Sheep Boy

The band's name comes from an obscure Russian story and the album title comes from a song by fallen '60s folk hero Tim Hardin, but the haunting music here is purely the Austin collective's own. Like tour partners the Decemberists and soul mate Alasdair Roberts, Okkervil River deals primarily in dark string instruments and even darker poetry. "Some nights I thirst for real blood/ For real knives/ For real cries," singer Will Sheff sings on opening track, "For Real," signaling that his appetite for southern gothic muder ballads remains as strong as ever on the group's fourth album. The sinister "So Come Back, I Am Waiting" and "Black" confirm this suspicion. Less country, more Arcade Fire--whatever that means--Black Sheep Boy paradoxically also finds the band at its most commercially ambitious. Here, the slow death rattle of previous releases slowly gives way to explosive choruses and actual gore. --Aidin Vaziri