Okkervil River is an indie/folk rock band from Austin, Texas USA. Formed i… Read Full Bio ↴Okkervil River is an indie/folk rock band from Austin, Texas USA. Formed in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya. The band currently consists of Will Sheff (vocals, guitar), Will Graefe (guitar), Sarah K. Pedinotti (keyboards), Benjamin Lazar Davis (bass) and Cully Symington (drums).

The band self-released their first album, Stars Too Small to Use, which led them to the South by Southwest music festival. After recording their first album in a garage, they signed with Jagjaguwar. Okkervil River continued by releasing four more albums, including critically lauded concept album Black Sheep Boy.

After a period of touring for Black Sheep Boy, Okkervil River followed up with The Stage Names. The album sold 10,000 in its opening week in the United States. The group released a free covers album, Golden Opportunities Mixtape from their live performances.

The band has garnered positive critical reception. Especially noted are each song's lyrics, intricate instrumentation, and thematic albums. In addition, they were featured on the talk show Late Night with Conan O'Brien and have performed with high profile bands such as The Decemberists, The New Pornographers, The National, and Lou Reed.

Okkervil River released their most recent album The Silver Gymnasium on September 3, 2013.

Discography:
* 1998 Bedroom EP – Jound
* 1999 Stars Too Small to Use - Jound
* 2002 Don't Fall in Love with Everyone You See - Jagjaguwar
* 2003 Down the River of Golden Dreams - Jagjaguwar
* 2003 Julie Doiron/Okkervil River (A split CD with Julie Dorion) - Acuarela
* 2004 Sleep and Wake-Up Songs (EP) - Jagjaguwar
* 2004 Sham Wedding/Hoax Funeral (A split CD with Shearwater) - Jagjaguwar
* 2005 Black Sheep Boy - Jagjaguwar
* 2005 Black Sheep Boy Appendix (EP) - Jagjaguwar
* 2006 Overboard and Down (EP) – Inertia, Australia-only tour EP
* 2007 The Stage Names - Jagjaguwar
* 2008 The Stand-Ins - Jagjaguwar
* 2011 I Am Very Far - Jagjaguwar
* 2013 The Silver Gymnasium - ATO Records
* 2016 Away - ATO Records
* 2018 In The Rainbow Rain - ATO Records

Current band members:
* Will Sheff - acoustic guitar, vocals, harmonica (keyboard occasionally)
* Travis Nelsen - drums, misc. percussion
* Scott Brackett - trumpet, coronet, keyboards, organ, tape player, misc. percussion
* Patrick Pestorius - bass, piano, woodblocks
* Justin Sherburn - keys, guitar
* Lauren Gurgiolo - electric guitar, pedal steel, mandolin

Past band members:
* Seth Warren - guitar
* Zachary Thomas - vocals, bass
* Jonathan Meiburg - vocals, banjo, guitar, accordion, piano, organ
* Mark Pedini - drums
* Brian Cassidy - electric guitar, pedal steel, mandolin, melodica (keyboard and accordion when on tour without Jonathan)

Call Yourself Renee
Okkervil River Lyrics

Don't look back until you realise you're pointedly not trying to look back
Then reconsider trying for a clearer mind, try for a grace of some kind
Leave your house and walk in the autumn light
Imagine a river, massive and galloping beneath your feet
Or you can call yourself Renee again and you can move back to Rapid City

You live in a hotel, you wait for a phone call, you wait for an email
You look out the window at a tree, weighted down with snow
You worry about your mother, you watch a couple movies, you take an Ativan
You walk down a Rapid City street alone

And at night there's a pink cast underneath the blank grey cloud head
Well it's something pretty to look at in the sky
And I don't know why so-and-so's taking much time to breathe something new into my life
And there's a tip-tap on the window that could be Fate's pale face looking in
Energy could be in the trembling hands of a tree, or it could be lighter
Could be nothing at all

Out in the night
The world was right against our skin
And it was right again
Out in the night
The world was right against our skin
And it was right, baby

Mysteriously absent for the afternoon and suddenly missing for a full month
His mother called up, called around the corner, called out shivering from a dream
Called his father five states to the south, said he was gone
When he could have easily been seen in a Vero Beach Dillard's
Weaving in and out of the racks of beautiful blue men's shirts
Or in South Florida, breezing through the drive-through, easy like a song on the stereo
Letting it all slide like an easy-going god
Or he could have not existed, just a vision of his mother
When she wished it so hard into something she could almost see
Or he could have been a feeling in the air, or the guy who cuts your hair
He could have been anyone, he could even have been me

And me, I don't care if I come back as a single wave
Or an oriole on a spell branch on a tree
Cause I'm not scared to die as long as I know
that the universe has something really to do with me

Out in the night
The air was right against our skin
And it was right
Out in the night
The air was right against our skin
And it was right, baby

I wanna make it nice again
I wanna make it alright
I wanna make it nice again
I wanna make it alright

Out in the night
The world was right against our skin
And it was alright, child
Out in the night
The world was right against our skin
And it was alright, baby

I wanna make it nice again
I wanna make it alright

Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group

Written by: WILL SHEFF

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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