| Rating |
Summary |
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| 3 by Rolling Stone |
On this album-length sequel to last year's The Stage Names, these Austin indie rockers continue to dissect the looking-glass emptiness of life spent on the stage, as well as in the cheap seats. &#... |
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| n/a by www.ew.com |
This Austin quintet follows 2007's The Stage Names with a second tour de force about the collateral damage of fame. |
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| n/a by Popmatters |
All of Sheffs characters once again come to life on The Stand Ins. More stories are told from the first person than on The Stage Names, but the theme shines through. |
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| n/a by www.avclub.com |
Sheff's narratives are still generous with details about porn stars and bland rich kids but they're also more focused than before, sharply describing characters who embrace the lies they find in art or in their heads for the sake of sanity. |
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| n/a by www.spin.com |
The Stand Ins, is packed with the same compound sentences, sprawling narratives, and precarious, barn-dance guitars that made its companion piece, 2007's The Stage Names, so weirdly gripping. |
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| n/a by Billboard |
The Stand-Ins feels looser and breathier than Stage Names. |
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| n/a by Pitchfork Media |
The Stand Ins continues that ambitious musical development [in The Stage Names], further roughing up the group's sound while sharpening its attack to an even finer point, and refining some of their old tricks while introducing new ones. |
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| n/a by www.blender.com |
Sheff straddles the line between precious and brilliant, warbling twisty, appositive-packed tales about life on the road and crumbled relationships over cranked-up, vaguely folkish rock riffs. |
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| n/a by www.boston.com |
Whether The Stand Ins is a sequel to The Stage Names album, a companion piece, or a reimagining hardly matters; its pleasures and frustrations are entirely approachable on their own terms. |
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| n/a by www.slantmagazine.com |
It's a straight line from Pet Sounds to Pulp's Different Class, and while Stand Ins and its predecessor share R&B riffs affected with a country twang, connecting this latest dip in the Okkervil to a '90s Pulp-y-ness is a refreshing move. |
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| n/a by thephoenix.com |
This record is a sequel to 2007s The Stage Names, and it shares its predecessors concerns: artifice, authenticity, and above all, the sniveling insincerity of hazy-eyed media zombies. |
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| n/a by www.pastemagazine.com |
Okkervil River itself performs here with an organic ease thats dramatic without reaching for histrionics, continuing to tattoo its rough folkish flesh with Motown horns, power-pop overdrive and chugging New Wave bass. |
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| n/a by www.villagevoice.com |
The Stand-Ins, reportedly taped at the same time as Stage Names, is an improvement, not least because Sheff punishes himself (rather humorously) for the sin of relying on tragic heroes at all. |
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| n/a by www.tinymixtapes.com |
Though Sheffs lyrics can be too earnest sometimes, theres no doubt hes one of the most exciting songwriters of recent years, and The Stand Ins is another fine entry in the bands discography. |
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| n/a by www.adequacy.net |
Remember those old days when everything was perfect, when you were happy and all was right in your world, The Stand Ins achieves this. |
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| n/a by www.austinchronicle.com |
The Stand Ins doesn't really figure out what it wants to be until its second half. |
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| n/a by www.cokemachineglow.com |
They [The Stage Names and The Stand Ins]were released as distinct (though interrelated) albums, and this one is better. |
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| n/a by www.lostatsea.net |
Just shy of a dozen songs, the ensemble of tracks on The Stand Ins is as rich and musically textured as any previous Okkervil River album |
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