Album opener “Lost Coastline” is the type of song that’s so strong, so amazingly wonderful that it doesn’t matter what comes to follow, because you’ve already been given your money’s worth. Will Sheff has never composed a finer song. Starting simply with a pair of guitars and Sheff’s desperate voice, the in comes a tambourine and in no time a motown rhythm and fully developed band turns it into an infectiously catchy tune rich in emotional depth.

Once the listener manages to release the repeat button, they’ll find the full range of treasures Okkervil River has become known for. The closest Sheff comes to the perfection heard on “Lost Coastline” is on the album’s final track, “Bruce Wayne Campbell Interviewed On The Roof Of The Chelsea Hotel, 1979.”

While The Stand Ins is bookended by 2 of the best songs ever credited to Okkervil River, it is not as strong as a whole as Black Sheep Boy or The Stage Names.

Best Song: “Lost Coastlines”
For fans of: Bright Eyes, Shearwater