- Courtesy of Capitol
BY CASSIE BALFOUR
Daily Arts Writer
Published January 17, 2011
The earnest harmonica that opens The Decemberists’ latest album The King Is Dead will be jarring for listeners who witnessed the band’s previous foray into expansive prog-rock. This fiddle-heavy slice of rootsy Americana is a departure for a band known for its puzzling concept records (see The Hazards of Love). But The Decemberists embrace the tenants of alt-country and lead singer Colin Meloy ditches the dizzyingly literate lyrics in favor of sparser, more straightforward diction. The Decemberists have lightened up, and most of The King Is Dead is a buoyant barn dance.
The Decemberists
The King Is Dead
Capitol
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“Rox in the Box” sounds like it was written in a low-lit, whiskey-saturated bar somewhere in Appalachian back-country with Meloy scribbling down lyrics like, “But while we're living here / Let's get this little one thing clear / There's plenty of men that die.” It may be darker than the rest of the album, but has enough twangy fiddles to rouse barflies from their bourbon-induced depression.
The Decemberists strive for authenticity with “Calamity Song.” The track is a joyful romp that spends the first 30 seconds building up tension with restrained guitars before bursting into a full-blown, down-home sing-along. Despite the folksy sounds, this track has Meloy demonstrating his cultural literacy by crooning, “Hetty Green / Queen of supply-side bonhomie bone drab,” (Google her — it just wouldn’t be a Decemberists album without an obscure and outdated reference or two).
“January Hymn” works as a transition between the band’s penchant for melancholy, rich epics and the alt-country sound that is pervasive on The King is Dead. The track is sonically atmospheric but still has the buttoned-up, classic feel of an American standard. “Rise to Me” is another successful merging of the spectrum sounds in which the band dabbles. The song leans more country with its straining, moon-lit fiddle, as Meloy sings, “Big mountain, wide river / There's an ancient call / These tree trunks these stream beds / Leave our bellies full they sing out / I am gonna stand my ground.” Echoing these country trappings is an eardrum-shattering harmonica that wails in the background.
The Decemberists stumble a little with the dull rehash “This is Why We Fight” — a track that rumbles along without any of the charming folksiness listeners will come to expect from the newly twang-tinged band. However, the one thing Decemberists fans will miss is Meloy’s grandiose storytelling. Though the band trimmed down the songs and infused them with a rural sensibility, devotees might be left pining for those overwrought epics.
But this new Decemberists release actually finds the band scaling back on the bells and whistles. Although listeners may be wistful for Meloy's tall tales, this album is filled with country-themed yarns that are far more listenable than previously bloated concept albums. The King is Dead is a record that conjures images of the American heartland without any of the cheesiness that plagues mainstream country. This is an album that doesn’t demand too much of its listeners, but still has a lot of soul.
