I have been obsessing about the new Roky Erickson and Okkervil River album, named "True Love Cast Out All Evil", that came out this April 20th on Anti records.
I just love Roky Erickson: it's not about his life and all the details and whatever. It's about Roky's voice traveling across hearts, years after he'll be long gone. It's about lyrics that haunt rooms. Will Sheff (of Okkervil River) knows his Roky stuff and definately has given serious thought in the way he wanted this to go: the songs have been handpicked between 60 songs that Roky wrote over the years. He has done a clever job, taking Roky's powers (truth, lyrics, voice) and letting them blossom in a musical universe filled with haunting/ear annoying noises that contradict the anthemic melodies. If there is one way to treat a simple, jaw-dropping, haunted song like "Goodbye Sweet Dreams", there you have it.
Everytime I listen to this album, I think about: a) Zoe's mediocre voice that basically ruins the naivite of the songs, b) how much the audience's perception has changed over the years.
Regarding a), there is nothing to be done. Zooey is not a singer, so her voice is not the point. The songs are playful, pop, sometimes funny, if you heard some of them in a bar, your ear would stick like glue. You get the point. I like the backing vocals/echo, but the bar shouldn't be really high for this album.
Regarding b), I remember growing up in the 90s, when everybody was so desperate to tell you what (and what not) is good to listen to. It is hard to imagine the situation if you are a download era offsping, when everything is great for one day and then it's long forgotten. Back in the day, conversations were so stupid, like: "electronic music will not last, coz it doesn't have lyrics". Like classical music, this came out so true, right? But, the conversations were like this. And, mind you, people who were talking like that, are today writing about music in media. So, guess what you should do about their opinions.
The album will be released tomorrow but you can listen to it here
I have been obsessing about the new Roky Erickson and Okkervil River album, named "True Love Cast Out All Evil", that came out this April 20th on Anti records.
