Down the River of Golden Dreams

Saw Okkervil River (aka Coner Oberst With a Soul) at Schuba's on Saturday night. I can't say enough about this band, but that's not going to keep me from trying.

Seeing a band that's emotionally involved in their music at a live show after months of their being on the road is exhilirating, and that's what the Okkervils provided to an - to be polite - eclectic post-midnight crowd. As tired as the image of a rocker breaking crap on stage is, you can't deny that you love seeing it, especially when there's some honesty to it.

The amazing thing about the outbursts of raw musical emotion for the Okkervils is that their music is heady and introspective. The centerpiece of the new album is a song about empathizing with war criminals for instance. Yet there we were, rocking - by the true sense of the word - to the lyric "While you gasp at my bloody crimes, / please take the time / to make your heart my own." And we could feel it; there was nothing ironic about the moment.

This is a band that in another life would be overly pretentious crap; indeed, opener and spin-off project Shearwater pretty much is. But somehow, it works right through a balance of tranquil calms and torrid rapids.