With grackles in their hair and tragedies in their boots, Okkervil River have taken a shot at tradition and injected it with new passion and virility. Uniting the strains of moody chamber pop contemporaries like Tindersticks, Arab Strap and Bright Eyes with the ragged emotional vulnerability of classic folk singers like Leadbelly and Dock Boggs, Okkervil River plays music that is lush, organic, beautiful and unsettling. Supported by some of Austin’s best musicians and produced by Brian Beattie, it is no surprise that Don’t Fall In Love With Everyone You See is such an accomplished musical work. However, what makes this album truly singular is that lyrically, it is so good it makes your head hurt (the good kind of hurt). It reads like no other record we have ever come across: a very contemporary, reflexive masterpiece owing a lot in tone to the very best of the Russian and Southern Gothic literary traditions.