The seventh Okkervil River album is a startling break from anything that the band has done before. By turns terrifying and joyous, violent and serene, grotesque and romantic, it's a celebration of forces beyond our control.

"On 21 October 1966, tragedy hit the Welsh village of Aberfan: when a colliery spoil tip above the village collapsed, 40,000 cubic metres of mining debris went downhill in a landslide, burying Pantglas Junior School and killing 116 children and 28 adults. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, Karl Kenkins wrote his Cantata memoria for large vocal and orchestral forces, here performed with a star-studded cast headed by bass-baritone...