The Decemberists | What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World
For years The Decemberists were one of those bands like The National that you would hear about all the time but you never knew anyone really 100% into them. The Decemberists? Oh yeah, I think I saw them on Conan or The Colbert Report? Are they new? No they have like 5 albums and every magazine thinks they are the best band in America. Weird, I kinda like that song they played. Maybe I’ll listen to them. For their first 10 years as a band they delivered this overrated by critics/undervalued by listeners indie music that had apparently been defined as Baroque Pop. For those other clueless souls out there, this is the genre of musicians from the Western US that sound British; along with Portland’s The Decemberists this can include The Shins, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, and on and on. We may not have an explanation how they developed this accent when singing but at least we have a word for it.
In 2011, The Decemberists released the King is Dead, the first American British Americana album. While the band didn’t entirely ditch their previous sound, this album was more country folk than the theatrical folk of the last five albums. It also at times had a distinct taste of R.E.M., which was predictable as their lead guitarist Peter Buck was featured several times on the album. If you listen to “Down by the Water” and don’t think of “The One I Love” I think your brain is missing a few connections. The album was a critical and commercial success, with the typical print-media-fellating present but this time accompanied with a number one spot on the billboard chart due to 94,000 copies sold in the first week. Holy crap, how were they this big? Not like hipster big, like your parents might know some of their songs big. They were even nominated for a Grammy. The King is Dead? More like their indie cred is dead! Yeah, I know, I’ll see myself out…
After this hugely successful album The Decemberists sort of just disappeared for a while. Last year’s Boston Calling was actually the first full set they had played in almost three years. Before then there was plenty of speculation: Would they ever make another album? Would it be more like the King is Dead or their previous albums? Are they going to merge with R.E.M. and form a supergroup known as Sleepless in December? Or maybe the follow up album would be a totally different musical style, like fellow Baroque Pop band (hey at least they’re from Scotland) Belle & Sebastian; their new dance pop album just came out a couple weeks ago too. Nope, The Decemberists’ seventh album What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World is certainly a mix of styles but mostly ones that they have at least dabbled in before.
The introduction song aptly titled “The Singer Addresses His Audience” responds directly to the concerns about the band’s changing sound in the way a football coach answers question at a press conference: not really answering anything but repeating the chorus of that they had to change “To belong to you” and hoping that repeated explanation will suffice. Does it really make sense? Squint harder and…. maybe? “Cavalry Captain” is a reminiscent of ’70s pop (or game show intros) while the the lead single “Philomena” sounds like it could have been a single 60 years ago; you know if it wasn’t lyrically about badly desiring to go down on a girl. “Make You Better” is the next single and is the kind of adult contemporary song that should grab your cool parents’ attention if they napped through the King is Dead hype. “Lake Song” is the most piano intensive song that they’ve written, while I swear “Til the Water’s All Long Gone” borrows its guitar from this Spanish Classical Guitar compilation I heard in a candle store once. I’m at least 37% serious about this.
The second half of the disc is the Americana-and-related-genres portion of What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World and it’s solidly enjoyable. “Carolina Low” is a haunting western song that I am betting The Walking Dead will be stealing for their next trailer. Likewise, “Better Not Wake the Baby” is a banjo driven up-tempo track that could have just as easily come off Ben Nichols solo album too. “Anti-Summersong” is an nice quick Americana jam while “Easy Come, Easy Go” is the kind of country-noir that Tarantino would use to introduce his next film if only The Decemberists were an obscure Japanese band instead of a Grammy nominated mainstream American one. “Mistral” is really a pop song disguised with western piano, but it’s one of my favorite songs on this album at the moment, as is “12/17/12” with it’s harmonica and slow drum beat leading us through Colin Meloy’s thoughts as a father watching the unfolding events of the Newtown, CT massacres and being grateful for having his son while wondering what kind of world is he being brought into.
Unlike the actual world we live in, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World is really more beautiful than terrible. Actually it’s not terrible at all. Even the songs that aren’t my favorite are smoothly constructed and wouldn’t necessitate a skip (you know, like you were were using a discman to listen like me and your parents) while playing the album fully through. Thematically it is my favorite Decemberists album because these are songs that you can lyrically relate to unlike, say being swallowed by a whale in your quest for revenge. Yes, sometime the songs where Meloy displayed his gift for storytelling were compelling, while other times, he took an entire album (Hazards of Love) to share a fictional tale that was convoluted and not worth the pay off. This album is far more accessible without being boring. It might be a little too mature (not boring, you bite your tongue) for the hipsters, but if you can’t enjoy these songs, in particular the second half of this album, well, you’re missing out.
The Drink: Something to sip on. Dry gin, a splash of tonic water, a splash of lime juice, a splash of lemon juice. Okay I’m done splashing now.
Bake
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[…] The Decemberists| What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World – I don’t want to write too much on this album because this post is already extremely long […]