The Decemberists

I brought home Her Majesty to listen to for the next few days while I'm in Providence. I listened to it twice on the way here. The standouts are: "Red Right Ankle" / "The Bachelor & The Bride" / "The Soldiering Life."

I've only heard chance snippets of Castaways & Cut Outs, though my roommate owns it; I ought to just burn it, but I'm anal about things like that. Anyway... I guess, the album is hit & miss, none of it is awful, but only a few songs are really great. The best song on the album is "Red Right Ankle"--vaguely heartbreaking and very catchy. Most people I know, upon hearing it the first time, try to sing along to the second verse, assuming the words are the same. Silly people.

Meh.

Songs are overwritten, voice is a bit irritating, musicians are tight, stage antics are occasionally funny but feel forced, overall feeling is too precious. Norfolk and Western were less memorable but felt more honest.

http://www.stereogum.com/decemberists.mp3

It's the Decemberists covering Bjork's Human Behaviour. It's quite good.

camisole, petticoat, vagabond, architect, courtesan, odalisque, cul de sac, legionnaire, bagatelle, boulevard, maidenhead, lioness

... what's the deal with Colin Meloy and anapestically-metered words? Am I wrong?

The song itself is a near-perfect shanty melody, and Meloy gets in a few good lines-- especially "let me be the one to lay within your thieving arms tonight," but neither version moves beyond tossed-off trifle, which in its own way is a lot more tiresome than nine-minute maritime epics.

I'm not sure the song qualifies as a shanty, but I really disagree with the last part; Bandit Queen is a nice little ditty, but Mariner's Revenge Song makes me want to kill myself. And I'm a pretty big Decemberists fan.

From pfork's review of Colin Meloy Sings Live:

"The other thing about these solo shows is that they're set up to be like campfire sing-alongs, so you're welcome to sing along as much as you like." The audience hoots and hollers, but judging from the silence surrounding the songs, no one took the offer seriously. Nor did Meloy: "Kumbaya", he says with an audible wink before launching into "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground", putting a knowing spin on what might otherwise be perceived as an earnest gesture. It's as if a bunch of people have gotten together to try and create a communal experience they don't quite believe in.

SEE ALSO: all indie rock shows.

Yes, how embarrassing and uncomfortable. Thanks for pointing that out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/right-wing-obama-critics_n_102868.html

ha ian is so getting made fun of for this thread

this is definitely what could be termed an embarrassing revive

enjoying the decemberist lols on the primary thread

argh new album WOW

WOW

Has it leaked online or have you got an actual copy? I've only heard the song on their website...

Hated it on first listen, but it's growing on me.

hey i got this in my email. should i listen to it? what will it do to me? i've never heard them. they're big, right?

i don't know though, peter buck? gillian welch? i thought they were indie rockers.

don't do it dude

i would read a scott seward liveblog of this record

Fucking appalling band. I'd donate my wages for the next three months towards a fund for stopping them.

i like their gay undertones.

― reo

as much as i know its not a very cool opinion but I don't hate the new album at all. really digging january hymm and the country vibes thrown in and out of this album.

will be hearing this a lot since my wife is a fan. glad it is suppposed to be more songwriter-y and less theatrical.

lol as predicted this new one was playing in the kitchen when i got home today. sounded like some deep REM worship.

i would read a scott seward liveblog of this record

― markers, Tuesday, January 18, 2011 6:03 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark

^^^^
wld also

i remember liking this band

sounded like some deep REM worship.

well, Peter Buck does play guitar on "Calamity" (which sounds EXACTLY like an early R.E.M. tune when he isn't singing) and a couple other tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt5ghXdq6Z0

Context?

I think its to celebrate the upcoming season of Curb Your Enthusiasm

Bandmember Jenny was diagnosed with cancer and is going through chemo -- thus her being bald and thus them all shaving their heads in solidarity.

So the new EP is pretty much uniformly better than anything on the recent full-length. Gone are the country-tinged R.E.M. aping tracks, back to the more folksy and proggy stuff that I prefer. Their Dead cover isn't half bad.

just learned that this band has a song called 'the chimbley sweep'

and thus that i've wasted 17 years by failing to concentrate my hatred upon them

they're a great band with a great catalog (although after 10 top-class years, the decline seems to have set in on the last two albums)

man, the new single is bleak. they sound 100% out of ideas, going through motions, lifeless, etc.

maybe the album will be better, but i'm not hopeful.

Yeah, I'd agree with that, but also your previous post from three years ago, the last two albums weren't very exciting either. Would love a return to like The Crane Wife, but I'm not holding out much hope for that.

Oh totally. Although each of those had a handful of good songs, I'd say, and this one seems worse than just about anything on either one. I can't believe it's the first single.

I didn't expand on this last night when I posted, but: This band feels like an obligation at this point - come together every five years, record the latest batch of songs, go on tour, bank some dough, then go off and do what you really want to be doing (for Colin) / do whatever pays the bills (for the rest of them) for another five.

You won't find a bigger defender of their first decade than me. Everything through King Is Dead is brilliant, imo. But this one sounds like someone told AI to produce a Colin Meloy song.

At least they're bringing Ratboys with them on tour this summer.

Wow, you're right. I used to adore this band when I was just getting into that Pitchfork/indie scene, just after their first LP. Saw them about five times between Her Majesty and Crane Wife, even though this required an hour and a half drive to a college town. The first time was at a venue with a stage small enough that they couldn't leave without disassembling their gear, so they just sat down for ten minutes before the encore and told us to occupy ourselves. I remember downloading mp3s of the live Picaresque tracks before they were recorded and tabbing them out for posting on their forum. I drifted away when it seemed like their quirkiness was being smoothed out, and just because my passion moved on, as it does.

I haven't revisited those LPs since; I'm wary that I'll find it all too cutesy-cringey now. That'd I'd feel faintly embarrassed, like when I find my amateurish attempts at music blogging from back then, or old LiveJournal entries. I'd rather keep the memories as they are. Still, I'm running through "Leslie Anne Levine" in my mind and it still sounds pretty/haunting.

Yeah, I gave "Burial Ground" another listen last night and alpine 100% otm with it sounding like Colin Meloy AI.

My wife and I saw them several times in their early days, when they were a somewhat niche act in small clubs.

I still like the first several records, but haven't kept up and probably won't.

Man, I love "Burial Ground"! Surprised to see so much dumping on it here, it's a total earworm. Basically Decemberists + Shins in a good way (which I wouldn't have predicted at this point). I'm not a huge Decemberists fan, I liked some of their early albums but not super attached to them. I just think this scans as like a good lost Paisley Underground track.

Haven't played this yet, but slightly encouraged by them going all epic again... new 19-minute song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nhLuHWcTdo