Castaways and Cutouts |
The Crane Wife |
Five Songs EP |
The Hazards of Love |
Her Majesty the Decemberists
Who doesn't love a sea shanty? Well, sea
shanties sung by nerdy intellectuals whose only experience on
a ship is probably tooling around the Pacific on a schooner
called Madame Pussycat II or something. While the music on this
album goes way beyond shanties, it's certainly difficult to
classify. Most point to the bizarre and beautiful carnival-freak
music of Neutral Milk Hotel
as its closest cousin, but Colin Meloy's delivery and musicianship
is much cleaner and much less bleak than NMH's. Whatever the
case, the oddball songs of chimney sweeps, turn-of-the-century
military operations and, of course, love are definitely not
personal, but are emotional in the way a classic gothic romance
might be. You're certainly not going to be bangin' your head
to anything on this album, but don't we have enough of that
shit already? I tend to be drawn to love/hate L.A. songs, and
this album has one of the better ones in Los Angeles, I'm Yours,
on which he sings about the smell of burnt cocaine and the ocean
garbling vomit on the shores, amongst other L.A. niceties. Meloy's
sweet voice and pseudo-accent add to the nostalgic feel and
while not as good as their debut, Castaways and Cutouts, is
still a wonderfully unique and heartfelt album filled with tunes
sure to keep it in heavy rotation on the CD player or iPOD for
years to come. |
The King is Dead
When I heard The Decemberists were making
a country album I cringed a little bit. And then I recalled
that I actually don't mind country music when it's coming out
of the West Coast (i.e.: CA, WA, OR, etc) and not somewhere in the
Midwest or South. I guess it's what those folks out there call
alt. country, though this doesn't really fit that genre. Yes,
there are slide guitars and fiddles and some banjos and harmonica,
but this is a band that regularly uses multi-instrumentation
in their songs anyway. And what, ultimately, is the difference
between using a hurdy gurdy and a violin? All they basically
do here is take an album full of what are essentially typical
Decemberists songs and add different, more country-ish and Americana-ish
instruments to the mix, tone down the shite about seafaring
and foreign lands (while amping up local, home flavor) and add
some nice harmonies reminiscent of what people assume comes
with country music. My favorite song I can't seem to stop listening
to is "Rise to Me," which is certainly in that slide guitar
and harmonica wheelhouse and is a lovely song. Lovely, I said.
There is just a wonderful nostalgic and warm feel to the album
that is not normally their thing. No songs about legionnaires
or Chinese trapeze artists, but things much closer to home and
heartfelt lyrics and truly American roots sounding instrumentation. There's nothing quite like a pleasant surprise. |
Picaresque |
The Tain |
Musical Connections:
Dharma Bums
The Minders
that dog
|
Booze
& Grub
Hipster
Movie Reviews
Hipster
Book Reviews