Officially formed a decade ago when high school friends Will Sheff (vocals/guitar) and Seth Warren (drums) relocated from Meriden, N.H., to Austin, Texas, Okkervil River may well be the Lone Star States most acclaimed new indie-rock export since Spoon. The promise (and buzz) was there on early albums like 2002s Dont Fall in Love with Everyone You See and the following years Down the River of Golden Dreams, but it was 2005s snarling Black Sheep Boy and the companion Black Sheep Boy Appendix EP that really made people pay attention with neck-snapping authority. There was always a hint of menace to the music of Okkervil River, but the Black Sheep Boy suite spiked the bands post-modern chamber-pop arrangements with a turgid, urgent and pained sound that evoked an unholy (but mesmerizing) union of Dock Boggs and the Cure. But as thrilling as that ride was, 2007s endearingly brighter The Stage Names was even more of a revelation. Declared one of the years essential albums by PopMatters, it proved Okkervils music could be just as compelling when the band reached out of the dark and switched the lights on.