Albums to watch

In The Rainbow Rain

Okkervil River

In The Rainbow Rain

Ninth studio album from the Austin-based indie rock outfit led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff

ADM rating[?]

6.5

Label
ATO Records
UK Release date
27/04/2018
US Release date
27/04/2018
  1. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Sheff’s search for transcendence in dark times and simple wish to connect are admirable
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  2. 7.8 |   Paste Magazine

    Consider this effort an astute example of passion with purpose
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  3. 7.5 |   Under The Radar

    The result is an album that's deeply affecting, but which—even if it is—doesn't feel quite as personal or authentic as much of the band's previous output
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  4. 7.3 |   Earbuddy

    Lives up to the quality of what an Okkervil River album should be: Sheff’s sharp pen pairing with grandiose arrangements
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  5. 7.0 |   Uncut

    If Sheff's still finding the best way to speak this newly direct, loving language, its naked conviction is touchingly plain. Print edition only

  6. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Allowing for a broader musical interplay between five people and obviously resulting in a much more diverse and interesting collection of tunes
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  7. 7.0 |   The Music

    The scabrous delving into shadows of yore is a thing of the past
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  8. 7.0 |   God Is In The TV

    Annoyingly there is a very good EP in the thick of In The Rainbow Rain but even at only ten songs it’s at times unrealised, only taken in a completely linear way does it follow a pleasing upward curve
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  9. 7.0 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    The general vibe of In The Rainbow Rain: fucked up, but enjoyably so
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  10. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Whatever the darkness outside, this is a record that reaches for joy and brightness within
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  11. 6.9 |   Pitchfork

    Will Sheff makes kindness an aesthetic on this album of gentle, idiosyncratic songs about dog adoption, celebrities’ emergency tracheotomies and finding transcendence in nature
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  12. 6.5 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    There’s the widest palette of any Okkervil River album, but it’s steady and doesn’t throw any needless curveballs. Sheff has obviously mastered his craft and is just pursuing the perfection of it – and it shows
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  13. 6.0 |   Q

    He mostly enchants, squaring literary pretensions with the band's happy fate as indie-rock comfort food. Print edition only

  14. 6.0 |   All Music

    A definite departure that trades the soft hedonism of the group's earlier works for something deeper and more profound
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  15. 6.0 |   Exclaim

    Good news/bad news: In the Rainbow Rain, the latest album from Okkervil River, is as hopeful and punchy, but also as clunky as its title
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  16. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Songs of promise, resilience and the occasional unpredictable turn. Print edition only

  17. 6.0 |   musicOMH

    Given time, there are moments of this album that will shine, it’s just a shame there’s so few of them
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  18. 6.0 |   The Observer

    Surgery meets soft rock
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  19. 5.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Away used jazz and classical arrangements to defy expectations of what an Okkervil River album could be, but In the Rainbow Rain finds Sheff retreating to his roots-rock comfort zone
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  20. 4.5 |   Spectrum Culture

    The band has stumbled on this one, but it feels like a result of searching for new footing, and not of having lost their way
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