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Though Will Sheff announces how keen he’ll be when he’s on that 5am flight to the US in the morning, the fact that this is the final date of a three month tour seems to energise him and Okkervil River to exhaust their remaining energy, and a fair proportion of the band’s back catalogue, on the gig tonight. There is a lot more than yesterday’s Sunday-curfew-restricted set; as well as the whole of The Stage Names, they play ‘The President’s Dead’, and plenty of the first album, including the eponymous ‘Okkervil River Song’. They play full on for about an hour, and then return for another half-hour’s encores, including ‘A Stone’ and ‘Westfall’ where Sheff strips off his jacket and tie and performs in uber-geeky Isaac Babel t-shirt. The chill of a December night is dissipated by songs like ‘John Allyn Smith Sails’ and ‘For Real’ while the crowd appears to be made up of family and devotees; judging by the comments of the elegant Americans next to me I’m stood beside Sheff’s parents while on the other side is a slightly musty smelling hippy whose every request is for something obscure (and unrehearsed and hence unanswered) and who sings along tunelessly to every song. After 90 minutes, the tank is finally dry leaving the crowd with a memory of an incredible gig, and the sense that something is developing here that might take Okkervil River on the same trajectory as the Shins, another band that have used their awkward charm to captivate.
Jaymay is supporting; the antifolk scene in New York seems to have claimed her but she’s on another level to that lo-fi set-up. Maybe it’s her intricate songs, maybe her perfect voice but there’s something quite special (there’s a touch of Regina Spektor, maybe a bit of Alela Diane but largely it’s all her). Check out songs like ‘Sea Green See Blue’ on her MySpace for confirmation of what we heard tonight.
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