= 5 stars

Amazon Link

Doubtful I would have chose to listen to this on my own. I was offered it as I was lending another co-worker the France Gall CDs I recently bought. Anyhow, it’s neat stuff, which I’d sum up in with these words: instrumentation, originality, and ambition. I can already tell from one listen that this is the sort of album that will stand up under repeated, enjoyable listenings for me.

Instrumentation: For a great example, the song Sons & Daughters in the most reductive sense, is just two chords over and over, but the range the group displays is impressive, using instruments from harmonium, acoustic guitar, bass, drums, three voices, and finally congealing with electric guitar and drums. All standard instruments for sure, but the way it all builds is expertly done over five minutes.

Originality: Having went to college in Portland, Oregon, it seems the music from the Pacific Northwest keeps getting better and better. When I was at school there, the common criticism of Portland bands was they sounded like lesser copies of better bands from Seattle (I sadly must mention Everclear). With Eliot Smith and now The Decemberists, this reputation has been obliterated for some time.

The singer sounds a little like Michael Stipe, so some songs remind me of early R.E.M., while others are built around funky grooves, strangely reminding me of Fleetwood Mac and seventies-era Paul McCartney, ornamented with seventies-era organ noodling. Then there are some straight-forward, eighth-note barrages recalling Interpol or an acoustic Coldplay. But there’s more: the aforementioned instruments are largely unplugged with hardly any electronic production tricks. So at times there’s a retro-revisionist-history vibe, as in Gillian Welch, later Sam Phillips, or even The Band. But please note: all these similarities are probably more due to the type of music I usually listen to - the resultant mix is refreshingly unique.

Ambition: I guess there’s a concept behind this album, but I haven’t gotten far enough to figure it out. But I did notice some songs’ length: The two songs The Island and The Crane Wife 1 & 2 are basically rock operas, at over twelve minutes long each. It’s neat to hear a group try to stretch things out in this day of the short attention span, two-to-three minute pop compression.

The contrast between long, contemplative songs and compact, hit-friendly ones like Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then) is part of the album’s charm. This tune features a female vocalist and some twelve-string, determined rhythm.

So The Decemberists were name-dropped on the most recent episode of Gilmore Girls - one point for that. Another for not sounding like any other band I’ve heard recently, and a last for basic nerve. They’re trying to create something more substantial than straight pop songs, and aren’t afraid to sound unique. I support some bands just for those reasons alone, even if the music isn’t my cup of tea. But in The Decemberists’ case, the tea certainly is.

Note: Here’s a recent interview with Colin Meloy (lead singer) at NPR.

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