In Stores Now: The King Is Dead by the Decemberists

Frontispiece by Mary Haweis from The Art of Beauty, 1883

Because this blog is an "ersatz" journal of my music listening, I don't feel particularly weird about starting every write-up with some background about my musical tastes, particularly because that's a big element of a person's reaction to music. Take the Decemberists, for instance. I've listened to the Decemberists since their first album, which I share by way of information (not intended as bragging.) I liked the Decemberists a lot at the time for two reasons - one, the songs were written from an interesting lyrical perspective which was fun for me as a former English major; and two, the songs had a good, organic roots-rock vibe with nice hooks (see "July, July!", "Grace Cathedral Hill", "Youth and Beauty Brigade"). It wasn't about the "drama" that is now so closely associated with the band - for the most part, there wasn't much drama on that record. Gradually, though, the storytelling element of the Decemberists' music took on a more pronounced and performative nature, escalating over several records to culminate with the messy and highly divisive rock opera The Hazards of Love in 2009.

I hated large sections of The Hazards of Love and still find the album to be almost unlistenable, but now the Decemberists have come back two years later with The King Is Dead, a "songwriterly" album that is as close to their first record as anything they've done. Is it enough to bring me back "into the fold" as a Decemberists fan? Kind of - it's almost TOO low-key, but it hardly seems fair to say that. And, on the other hand, it's not exactly an album for people who never liked the Decemberists - Colin Meloy is still a fairly eccentric frontman that will rub some people the wrong way. He still has that odd speech impediment that flavors his vocals, and his love of poetic dactyls is still going to irritate people (songs are littered with words like "gabardine", "trillium", "bonhomie", and "panoply").

But enough of the backhanded compliments. The King Is Dead is a solid set of middle-era-REM-inspired folk-pop - the songwriting is pretty sharp, the drums sound great, and guest vocals from Gillian Welch provide a addition to a lot of the songs. One song is an outright dud (the clumsy "Rox in the Box"), but there are several REM-style mid-tempo janglers that have nice melodic turns, the best being the "Calamity Song" (which sounds a LOT like REM's "Seven Chinese Brothers").

The album also boasts two excellent "hymns", one for January and one for June. "January Hymn" is easily my favorite track on the record, with a stripped-down arrangement of acoustic guitar, organ and some dreamy cooing backing vocals (provided, according to the liner notes, by drummer John Moen?!?) Like many of the songs on The King Is Dead, it puts the spotlight squarely on Meloy - with some of the other Decemberists' contributions being limited on this record while Meloy and guest players contribute more, this almost sounds like a solo record. I'm not sure this is the direction the band should go in (is a Shins-style firing of the band's lineup in the offing?), but anything that's not The Hazards of Love is all right with me.

"January Hymn" by the Decemberists