The Decemberists

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Love the album. Did not care too much for the King is Dead, and Colin has all but said they phoned it in on that one.

The Wrong Year, Cavalry Captain and Philomena are my current favourites.
 
This album is soooooooooo looooooooooooong

Which is odd for me to say because 55 minutes really isn't all that unreasonable. I think it's that my tolerance for this band has gone down a lot over the years and I've had my fill of them by the 35-40 minute mark. They have a gift for making folk rock feel like homework.

There are some good songs here, it's mostly vibrant and listenable, but I have not yet pinned down why I should listen to this over Picaresque or The Crane Wife.
 
I did not realize Peter Buck played on several tracks on The King Is Dead. No wonder it sounds so REM-y.

I'm interested to hear the new one.
 
It's a decent album but I just don't know if there was anything interesting enough to come back to. Like The King is Dead wasn't much more than decent as well but there were three or four just real nice songs that brought me back. Maybe it will turn out like the Interpol album where my opinion of it is originally flat but I end up really digging it. Unfortunately this album doesn't have an All the Rage Back Home.

It starts well. Singer Addresses His Audience is great when it finally gets going, Cavalry Captain is pretty sweet but unfortunately one of the few changes of pace/sound on the album (the horns in particular are a very welcome addition). I already like Make You Better a good deal. The Wrong Year has some nice vocal melodies in the chorus but ends up sort of coming off as a slower, poor man's Don't Carry it All. I like Mistral, too. I refused to listen to 12/17/12 because the date is not in the correct format. and A Beginning Song is okay. but overall, yeah, I dunno. Which is probably why many of our members here don't fucking post reviews after one listen. But life's short, y'know, and I've got Bon Iver songs to masturbate to.
 
my three favourite Decemberists songs still all come from castaways/cutouts. Architect, Leslie Anne, C1/Youth&Beauty Brigade. if someone can recommend another album that won't feel like hard work, that would be pretty sweet.

funny that the latter of those songs goes for 10 minutes and yet it seems to pass in about half the time that any of these new songs do.
 
my three favourite Decemberists songs still all come from castaways/cutouts. Architect, Leslie Anne, C1/Youth&Beauty Brigade. if someone can recommend another album that won't feel like hard work, that would be pretty sweet.

funny that the latter of those songs goes for 10 minutes and yet it seems to pass in about half the time that any of these new songs do.

All the albums have a lot going for them. Picaresque is the most accessible, and has some really interesting tunes like Mariner's Revenge Song and Bagman's Gambit, but to me, especially for a fan of C1/YABB, The Crane Wife is a must listen. Some clunky songs, but all 3 parts of the Crane Wife, The Island, The Perfect Crime 2, O Valencia are all awesome.
 
I'm always excited to hear new music from The Decemberists. I really only love one album, their debut, but I do like them. This new song is great in that it's very different for them and has me keen for the record. The last one had some nice songs but christ it was a chore to get through.
 
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