Okkervil River Plays Secret Show, and Debuts New Album I Am Very Far

This past Monday night [04.25.11] a relatively small crowd at the Scoot Inn was treated to a secret show by hometown heros Okkervil River, in which they played their forthcoming album I Am Very Far in its entirety. According to lead man Will Sheff this was the first time that 70% of the album was played live in any capacity. While he did make jokes about being nervous for fear of messing up during the songs, the show was captivating. The new material is amazing and even though the music was new to the crowd, they hung on every word and note. The band also threw in some old favorites ("For Real," "Black," and "Lost Coastlines"), but the highlight was being the first to hear the new songs as they made their live debut.

Obviously many missed out on this sneak peek at I Am Very Far, so Okkervil is giving the masses a chance to see the full album performed during a NPR webcast on April 27th.  More info after the break and a couple photos from the show.

NPR Music will stream Okkervil River performing I Am Very Far in its entirety live from Austin's Cactus Cafe. Hop over to NPR around 6pm CT on April 27 (tomorrow as I write this) and get a glimpse of what we were treated to at the Scoot Inn.

I wasn't able to get video of Monday's performance, but a clip I took of them during SXSW last month can be seen here.

Okkervil's new album hits the street on May 10th from Jagjaguwar. You can pre-order the album now in a couple different options, including a pretty sweet sounding limited edition. I can attest from the live preview, that this album is one of the best of the year so far.