The Observer, October 13, 2006
Volume XXXIX, Issue 7
Decemberists' major label release draws on literary influences
The Decemberists look like a motley group of hip academics who would have no interest in playing music. Fortunately for listeners, they do. The Crane Wife, their fourth full-length album, was released on Oct. 3. Their first release on a major label, the album smacks tastily of evolution and high production value.
Lead singer and penman Colin Meloy is an obviously well-read mastermind who pens lyrics that could be connected as sentences and sold to The Saturday Evening Post. His musical historical fiction is more enticing than King Leopold's Ghost. Yet for all the antiquated leanings, the songs on The Crane Wife are not lute and piccolo duets played by people in renaissance outfits. The music is innovative and diverse, playing around in different genres and with different techniques. The Decemberists' penchant for the epic can, however, be a little overly Shakespearean and inaccessible at times. Lyrics like "briar cradle rocks its babe to sleep/Its contents watched by Sycorax/and patagon in paralax" are nearly indecipherable to the average person without Wikipedia at the ready. But with a dictionary or a senior member of the English department on hand, the lyrics are more descriptive than any in modern music.
Meloy often borrows from history for subject matter. The title of the album is based on a Japanese folk tale of the same name. It is told from the perspective of a farmer who bandages a wounded crane that later comes back as a woman to be his wife. The title song coordinates closely with story, three parts over two tracks, emitting distinctly different emotions. The first five minutes of the eleven minute. "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" are staccato and exclamatory, like the surprise of the farmer who saves the beautiful crane. After the man and woman are married, they struggle for money, so sthe wife agrees to weave beautiful cloth that they can sell, as long as the farmer doesn't look at her. When he is tempted to look in, he sees a beautiful crane plucking its feathers for the loom, and the crane flies out the window and never returns. Meloy gives the song's characters dimension, as the farmer laments, "I was greedy, I was vain and I forced her to weaving." As the husband accurately and tragically blames himself for his loss, the second half of the song slows and croons accordingly. The third part of the song, "The Crane Wife 3," is the first track on the album and hauntingly foreshadows the farmer's loss without saying what will happen to the farmer, who sings, "I will hang my head, hang my head low."
While the "Crane Wives" are the extensive centerpiece, the album has many other highlights. "The Perfect Crime #2" is a song that could be catchy background music for a 1970s detective series. The Decemberists also have some very modern prog-rock and Zeppelinesque musical tendencies which come out in songs like "When the War Came" and "The Perfect Crime #2."
The surprising "Shankill Butchers" is a soft, tender, acoustic lullaby about child murderers "sharpening their cleavers and their knives/And taking all their whiskey by the pint." Obviously, the Decemberists are not afraid to explore unpopular subjects for the sake of art.
There are two tracks on the 10- track album that are over 10 minutes long. Although they have entered the big leagues with this Capitol release, the Decemberists make few concessions to corporate major label sensibilities and stick resolutely their Kill Rock Stars roots. As much as they have evolved, the Decemberists still manage to sound delightfully like themselves. They have certainly found themselves a niche market in historical epics, dragging them furiously five-and-twenty times into the limelight.
The Decemberists will be at the Agora on Nov. 9th with Alasdair Roberts. General admission is $20. Make sure to pick up a copy of the album at your local Music Saves in advance, so you can revel in your ability to sing along to every word, and out-hip the hipsters.
