Party Ends

(Photo by Amanda Lopez) 

   I still have not found a good way to talk about how much i love the new Okkervil River album beucase so many "critics" have already done a pretty good job of beating you over the head with how amazing it is.  While i sit here and continue to learn the lyrics and count down the days until fun fun fun fest, I can’t praise California Bay Area  Or, the Whale enough.  Their debut full length “light poles and pines” (cheap via paypal ya'll!)harnesses the basic Okkervil alt-country galloping beat that sums up their early work. Elements of Okkervil, Pavement and Old Crow Medicine Show give this band a power combo that makes me actually love them (yes, in that way.)  If only June Carter and her family singing style had instead married Stephen Malkmus rather than Jonny Cash they could have all gotten together and formed a band just like Or, the Whale.
 
   Or, the Whale made a trek thru Austin in August, and played their hearts out at both the Hole in the Wall and the Mohawk.  The acoustic based songs have everything from punk to chamber pop aesthetics all the while falling back on the country framework.  They pull off colossal sounds thanks largely in part for the four-part vocal harmonies and considerable instrumentation (Saw player! Washboard player!) the album holds up listen after listen so much better than any Jeff Foxworthy routine.  At times the country elements act as a device or a genre like how Brick plays off the genre of a hardboiled noir movie to do something different with it. Or, the Whale is a truly talented young country rooted band, the sort of band that you can show off to people who like new music but don’t want to keep up with the varying nuances of the unfortuananlty named “blog house” or the “Wham City” scene.  The sort of band that gets me excited about music. They work within the alt-country genre in a variety of interesting ways that makes the album-refreshing listen after listen.  

   I have never read Moby Dick, (where the band takes their name from) I have been waiting for a Hollywood remake and keeping my fingers crossed for Mr. Bean playing Ahab and OTW to do the sound track.  Oh- also- Moby Dick to be a sweetass CGI narwhal. How about it Hollywood? 

MP3: Or, the Whale - Call and Response