If you were a critic of the Decemberists' ultra ambitious, bordering on pretentious, prog/rock/folk epics that either made grandiose appearances on albums ("The Island") or that filled EPs (The Tain) and full lengths (The Hazards of Love) all on their lonesome, The King is Dead may be for you. Despite overwhelming praise from myself and my partners in crime here at JustPressPlay (we named the album our favorite of 2009), the Decemberists' last album, the fantasy driven conceptual rock opera The Hazards of Love, had its detractors. Some thought that the band had gotten a little carried away with their bombastic '70s prog-folk amalgamation. Many yearned for the return of the band's humorous character studies set to catchy British folk scores that highlighted their early albums. In response, or maybe in reprieve, the band's 6th full length album sees Colin Meloy and company stripping down their sound, taking a stab at poetic lyrics rather than broad narratives and yet, despite a big change from what we've began to become accustomed to with the Decemberists, has still provided us with probably one of the very best albums we will hear all year.
On The King Is Dead, The Decemberists rush headlong into a section of music that had often been ignored by the Oregon quintet, American folk music. With Meloy suffering from a self confessed obsession with British folk music, the sound of his band more than not followed that path. When his obsession turned to melding British hard rock and progressive rock with the aforementioned folk music of the same region, that's what the Decemberists sounded like. Now it seems as if Meloy has found a love for both Americana music and R.E.M.; their latest album says so. Though The Decemberists have never shied away from using a wide variety of instruments, on King the band turns to traditional American country and bluegrass instruments that had rarely been employed on previous songs. You'll hear plenty of the fiddle, steel guitar and harmonica throughout the 10 perfectly selected songs on the album. On top of that you may notice the vocals of bluegrass singer Gillian Welch or the guitar work of R.E.M. legend Peter Buck scattered throughout the album. It doesn't take long to notice R.E.M.'s long ranging influence on King. In fact the song "Down by the River," creates a comfortable Nate Query bassline for Buck himself to showcase his trademark guitar licks as Welch and Meloy share a mesmerizing and catchy lyric of adolescent love and bittersweet memories. Meloy actually reflected upon working on "Down by the River," saying that it was originally an ode to R.E.M. "more than any of us really wanted it to be."
The album’s following song “All Arise!” happens to be the most bluegrass flavored track on the album. Beginning with a hoedown ready screeching fiddle, Meloy envelopes the song with somewhat pedestrian lyrics, at least for his standards. “Baby wants a new spin/ baby wants a broken heart,” is the line that starts the song. It’s also a line that, unless I’m grasping at straws here, sounds similar to ones echoed in R.E.M.’s “Me In Honey,” possibly a wink to the listeners who would inevitably realize Meloy’s biggest noticeable influence on the album. Two of the shining highlights on the album though are the two hymns that serve as the bread of the middle section of the album, sandwiching both “Down by the River” and “All Arise.” The first hymn, “January Hymn,” is a beautiful acoustic laden tune that turns the winter season into music form. Likewise the similar “June Hymn” does its job of bringing the long summer days to mind. Meloy has always had a gift for storytelling but the The King Is Dead, more than not, strays away from some of the historical set pieces in favor of interesting and intelligent poetry that doesn't neccesiarly require a lengthy back story. As far as I'm concerned there's not a more versatile songsmith than Colin Meloy in all of modern music.
Though there were times when I missed the epicness and the grandeur of the band’s lengthy rock opuses, it’s hard not to at least appreciate The Decemberists’ newest experiment. Once the contagious rhythm of “Don’t Carry It All” gets stuck in your head for the first time or when the subtle beauty of “January Hymn” grabs a hold of your wayward attention like a dog on a collar, you’ll most likely share my opinion that this was an album that The Decemberists needed to make. The King Is Dead may not be The Decemberists' greatest full length, but it certainly holds up with the best of them.
"The King Is Dead" is on sale January 18, 2011 from Capitol.
