Okkervil River seem to be a band that everyone is mildly fond of, but I've never met anyone for whom it's their favourite band ever. Part of this may have to do with the deliberately grotesque nature of the subject matter that they cover - their 2005 album "Black Sheep Boy" sounded like a standard folk rock album on the surface, but when you dug a bit deeper it became dark, murky, and gloomy throughout.

"The Stage Names", oddly enough, doesn't really follow this same pattern. While in a few places it still has the same downcast, ominous feel to it, for the most part it's a much brighter, much more accessible album. Opening track Our Life Is Not a Movie or Maybe, for instance, is a bouncy track somewhat reminiscent of bands like Ours or even Muse. Unless It's Kicks follows this same template, a bright, up-tempo number with a bass line that sizzles and boils just underneath the rest of the instruments.

Of course, the band do things other than up-tempo indie rock tracks, as the soft Savannah Smiles shows. Gentle piano and fingerpicked guitar are the order of the day here, creating a much calmer mood than the first few tracks do. Plus Ones is the clearest display of the band's alt-country leanings, a mostly acoustic ballad with just the faintest hint of synth and keyboard to give the verses a little bit of colour.

Undoubtedly the highlight of the entire album is A Girl In Port, however. Making the most of Will Sheff's emotive voice, it flows gorgeously from one piano-driven verse to the other, each with a disarmingly simple melody. Whether the lyrics are meant literally, or whether they're a metaphor for the narrator's guilt over his repeated infidelity, it's an epic track that provides the only real gloomy interlude on the whole album, but it's so beautifully put together that it doesn't destroy the flow or the mood of the album at all. John Allyn Smith Sails, the final track, is the only thing comparable to it on the whole album, with its bright lyrics detailing horrible events and its wonderfully clever segue into The Kingston Trio's Sloop John B. at the end.

While this album isn't going to be for everyone, fans of literate rock bands like Augie March and The Decemberists will almost surely fall in love with "The Stage Names". Either this album is finally going to get Okkervil River the attention that they really do deserve, or it's going to go down as the most underappreciated masterpiece of the year.