Rivers and Streams

Will Sheff is the lead singer and songwriter of Okkervil River, a small rock band founded in 1998. Sheff has recently acquired a dedicated recording space, giving rise to his new project, “Lovestreams.” In an email, Sheff stated that the goal of the project was “to make an album completely by myself and for myself.” To him, the project was intended as a direct and intimate experience, the creation of which he likened to the four-track tapes he recorded in high school. After over a year of working on the project, Sheff has finally released the second track of the album, “Shock Corridor.”

The beginning of the song is moody and surreal, the soft vocals drawing the listener into the abstract imagery typical of many Will Sheff songs. The chorus reads “I don’t care who you are and don’t care what you were -- you can’t look away from the Shock Corridor.” Catchy and interesting, it runs through the song, a challenging voice to the narrator.

Much like Will Sheff’s other songs, the lyrics to the piece read more like poetry than typical song lyrics. The detached images within the piece slowly come together to not only tell a story but to set a mood of longing and loss.

A few days ago Sheff released the song’s individual tracks so that people may use and manipulate them. As a free project that is open to the public, Lovestreams seems like a very immersive and interesting project. It hearkens to an intimate connection between artist, music, and listener, one that is quite rare in music production today.

Visit the Lovestreams Tumblr page here: http://lovestreamsdreams.tumblr.com/

For more on Will Sheff, visit his page here: http://www.willsheff.com/