On Sept. 9, Okkervil River released their newest album Away on ATO Records. While it still has some of their signature sound, the album seemed more drawn out and monotonous than previous albums and left me saying, “meh.”

The first thing I noticed about this record were the length of the songs. Most of the album is full of seven-minute recordings and while that could be good if they had some variation, to me they all started to sound the same after a while. I found myself wanting to skip the last few songs, which has never happened to me with their albums before. I’ve been a huge Okkervil fan from the beginning, but this album really tested me.

On the bright side, many songs are still full of light acoustics against dark lyrics. “She Would Look After Me” and “Mary on a Wave” have that in common. “Call Yourself Renee” uses peaceful strings and piano set to life and death poetry. “The Industry” has a light country sound that belies its angry lyrics. In this, I can see Okkervil’s previous work.

Overall, I found the album to be so-so. Songs like “Days Spent Floating” didn’t have a lot of variation in notes and that made them feel way too long. However, the guitar work, as always, is beautiful and Will Sheff’s voice has a gravelly quality that makes you feel like he’s carrying the weight of the world. I will always be an Okkervil River fan. I just hope their next album shows them to be the band I know they can be.