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Why? Why is this so popular?! I mean, don't get me wrong: it's great. And we've always known this Portland-based quintet was kinda weird, ever since their 2003 debut Castaways and Cutouts. But why NOW? What has catapulted their weird theatrical sea-shanty pop songs into the limelight? Is it their involvement with Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla? Were they played on The OC? It just kinda blows my mind that throngs of kids delight in hearing polka-tinged songs about prostitutes and sailors and whales.
judging a book by its cover: Actually, the CD booklet is pretty awesome, showing the band members in glorious costume, inacting scenes from the songs. (They thank both Red Light Vintage Clothing and Buffalo Exchange in their liner notes.) The antique-style fonts and colors help give it that "days of yore" feeling.
songs i adore: Without a doubt, the gorgeous, wistful "The Engine Driver", which almost has a Smiths-feel to it (not too surprising as main guy Colin Meloy is a huge Morrissey fan, and has even released a CD EP titled Colin Meloy
Sings Morrissey). The lilting, heart-breaking chorus of "And if you don't love me/ Let me go" would've made my melancholy 15-year-old self cry into a pillow.
I also love the upbeat pop of "The Sporting Life" with its shuffling brushed drumbeats that make me wanna do the foxtrot, and the lovely acoustic "Of Angels and Angles" which gently closes the album.
things i abhor: The monkey noises that begin the matador-ballad "The Infanta" with its Spanish guitar style, "We Both Go Down Together", because it's been overplayed, "Eli, the Barrow Boy" 'cause it's about a boy with a wheelbarrow for crissakes and is a little too folky for my tastes, "The Mariner's Revenge" song 'cause of that polka thing I mentioned earlier...
But the thing is, I admire and respect The Decemberists beacuse they are so quirky, and because they can write songs about being in the belly of a whale! It's been said a million times, but Meloy has a wonderful way with words, and their lyrics are undeniably intriguing. Plus, the production (thank you, Walla) is amazing, especially considering the vast array of instrumentation employed. I guess I underestimate the masses sometimes! (janice.07.05)
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Do you like rock opera? Perhaps more likely you hate it. Either way, The Decemberists are thumbing their collective nose at you with this e.p. released on Spain's Acuarela label. The disc contains a single 18-minute track which consists of 5 "movements" and purports to be a very loose interpretation of an ancient Celtic myth. Things kick off with a real heavy, Jesus Christ Superstar kind of feel. They get pretty about halfway through, and there's a chorus section with some nice soaring vocal harmonies, but then things go awry and we're into unpleasant territory again with some minor-key, gypsy-carnival accordion stuff. The obscurity and difficult conceptual nature of this project is at such an extreme level that it almost seems like an open challenge to the listener, like the band is saying "You want weird? Oh, we'll give you weird." I'm finding that I have pretty strongly mixed feelings about this band's work, and this disc falls squarely on the side that I find disagreeable. (mike.05.05)
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