Besides the obvious reason, the music that is, for being excited about Okkervil River's new album "The Stage Names" due out in August, there is another one. That is, the wonderful artwork of William Schaff. Schaff has designed all the previous album artwork for Okkervil River and once again he has produced great work. I think the top one will be inside the cover and the one underneath is the actual cover. Whichever, they are both wonderful. Schaff is based in Providence, Rhode Island and his many wide ranging pieces of art cover the huge gamut of human experiences and emotions. Often dark, but always highly original, his work is definitely checking out. You can view his work at his Flickr page. If you like something perhaps you could contact him and see if you can obtain some artwork for yourself.

His artwork in the past for Songs:Ohia and Godspeed You! Black Emperor was also truly stunning. Here are a couple of my favourites.