Okkervil River are releasing their latest studio album, The Silver Gymnasium, on September 3. If you read this blog often, you’ve probably seen Mac make several references to my geekery over this band and that is because they are one of my favorites and they are very worth listening to and you should all be making their music go into your ear holes.

We already knew that The Silver Gymnasium would be something of a concept album about lead singer/songwriter Will Sheff’s childhood in Meriden, New Hampshire and that it would take place in 1986. The few cuts from the record that have been released thus far have certainly all supported that premise.

We did not know, however, until a few days ago, that Okkervil River would be releasing a video game companion to the album, also called The Silver Gymnasium. And you can play that game HERE.

Unsurprisingly, the game takes place in “New Hampshire – 1986” and, fittingly, it has been designed as an homage to the style of games that would have been popular at that time. The Nintendo had only been released in North America for around a year by the summer of 1986, and not many console games would have quite resembled what’s seen in The Silver Gymnasium. (Ghosts n’ Goblins, released in November of ’86 might be the closest, graphically.) Given the fact that the main character starts the game on a computer, it’s more likely that the reference points here are the early Sierra adventure games made for Apple and PC, such as King’s Quest, Space Quest, etc.

The game, which Sheff co-created with Benjamin Miles of Eyes and Ears, is fairly straightforward and fairly short. It’s a promotional piece as much as anything else, but it also does a great job of evoking the feeling of the era while firmly reminding you that it is a retrospective. The graphics are meant to look like an 8-bit game but they’re clearly modern. The soundtrack is nostalgia-laden chip music but the songs are all from the upcoming Okkervil album, which hasn’t even been released yet in 2013. There are numerous references to 80’s culture but with understanding winks to the fact that you’re seeing them in the future.


It’s a combination of elements that plays with the cross-section between your memory and your present perception which, if I had to guess, will be a dominant theme on The Silver Gymnasium album as well.

The meta aspects of the game aside, there’s also something to be said for the emotional impact that a video game can have on the human mind and Sheff is attempting to channel that here. Similar to music (itself, a large element of most video games), a well-crafted game environment can have a profound effect on the imagination. Anyone who experienced 80’s and early 90’s gaming culture knows that even the most basic constructions had the ability to create worlds in one’s mind where only the simplest presentations of light and sound existed in actuality. The dissonance between reality and a virtual world is a special phenomenon, which, if harnessed properly, can produce an incredibly affecting experience.

The portion of The Silver Gymnasium that is available to play now is only the first of three segments, and Sheff has indicated that the sequel chapters will be released in the next several weeks. The first chapter is called “Chapter One - All the Days of Your Life in a Line” (a line from "Down Down the Deep River" and also a bit reminiscent of an early Okkervil lyric: “my bad days all got together and they stood in a row for me.”)

The game starts with a nameless protagonist in New Hampshire - 1986. Though it would be natural to presume that the bespectacled main character is patterned after Sheff, he has stated that: “the story is fiction, which is why the kid has black hair. He’s sort of his own character. It’s a tie-in! Like a Dr. Who novelization with a side-plot not affecting the main arc. You’ll see…”


The game moves quickly and easily enough from this point that there’s no real sense in giving away the story when you can experience it yourself. It also might be easier to analyze what exactly this journey and The Silver Gymnasium may represent after we’ve experienced all three chapters.

In the mean time, there are plenty of interesting Easter Eggs in the game to take a look at.

Soundtrack

The main draw here might be the aforementioned chip music versions of three songs that have been released so far from The Silver Gymnasium. Sheff and Miles have done an excellent job on these, getting the notes to hit all the right spots to make you feel like you’re actually listening to a period piece Nintendo soundtrack.

“It Was Our Season” – This is the song that plays during the title sequence and credits. You can listen to the studio version of this song HERE.

“Down Down the Deep River” – This is the song that plays once the protagonist picks up his Walkman. It plays everywhere in town (except the library!) Listen to various open mic night versions of this song HERE.

“Lido Pier Suicide Car” – This is the song that plays once you enter the crypt. Listen to an acoustic version of this song HERE.

Movies in the Video Store

If you go into the video rental store (slash “Deli-Mart”?), the clerk will warn against renting any “Rated-R” movies. You can look at the following movies on the case on the back wall.

Scott Coffey’s Space Camp, starring Scott Coffey
Jean-Claude Van-Damme in: No Retreat, No Surrender
Cannibal Ferox
Creepers, starring Jennifer Connelly
Hardbodies II

The Space Camp entry is a bit of a joke as Scott Coffey actually plays a rather minor role in the film. Both that movie and No Retreat, No Surrender were released in 1986. Cannibal Ferox was a 1981 film by Umberto Lenzi, renowned for being one of the most violent movies ever made. Creepers is a 1985 Italian, horror film that does star a young Jennifer Connelly. Hardbodies II is the 1986 sequel to… Hardbodies.

Books in the Library

When you go into the library you can look at the following books on the shelves. The books appear to be organized by topic on each shelf. They also appear to be organized such that they become darker and more mature once you enter the basement. Most of the books have an emphasis on the mysterious or the fantastical.

Upstairs shelves: The first two shelves seem to contain young-adult/fantasy novels. The third shelf contains young-adult/science-fiction stories. The fourth shelf contains young-adult/mystery novels.

(Left to right)

Shelf 1

De Uendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende (the German version of The Neverending Story)
Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum
The Dragon and the George by George R. Dickinson
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George

Shelf 2

Danny, Champion of the World by Roald Dahl
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherin Paterson
Lizard Music by D. Manus Pinkwater (The librarian recommends this book as you leave)

Shelf 3

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Mt. Analogue by Rene Daumal
Terran Trade Authority: Spacecraft 2000-2100 AD by Stewart Cowley

Shelf 4

The Hardy Boys: The Secret of the Caves
The Hardy Boys: A Figure in Hiding
Nancy Drew: The Strange Mystery in the Parchment
Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Forgotten City

Basement shelves: the first shelf contains highly controversial “adult” novels. The second shelf contains what would generally be considered “young-adult novels” but that contain elements of horror or controversy. The last two shelves all contain books or grimoires dealing with magic, the occult, and the supernatural.

(Right to left)

Shelf 1

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
The Last Temptation of Christ by Nikos Kazantzakis
Slaughter-House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Shelf 2

The Wish Giver: Three Tales of the Coven Tree by Bill Brittain
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
A Watcher in the Woods by Florence Engle Randall

Shelf 3

Liber Razielis Archangeli
Little Key of the Whole Art by Hygromancy
The Orgone Energy Accumulator, Its Scientific and Medical Use by Wilhelm Reich
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen

Shelf 4

The Sworn Book of Honorious
The Confession of the Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross

Grave Stones

When you enter the graveyard there are four graves that are a lighter shade of gray, which you can inspect more closely. Each grave belongs to a man that died in 1986.

Richard Manuel, Died: March 4, 1986
Harold Arlen, Died: April 23, 1986
Phil Lynott, Died: January 4, 1986
Jorge Luis Borges, Died: June 14, 1986

Richard Manuel, one of the lead singers of The Band, hung himself in a motel room after a long struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse. Phil Lynott was the lead singer of Thin Lizzy and also died after a history of a substance abuse. Harold Arlen (from… Buffalo, New York) was a composer of several classic songs, including “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” He died of cancer. Jorge Luis Borges was a famous Argentinean writer of fantastical short stories. He also died of cancer.