What is the name of the new CD that the indie band “The Decemberists” have just released?
Portland, Oregon’s The Decemberists recently shocked their devoted fan base when they bolted from long time indie label, Kill Rock Stars, for the mainstream industry giant known as Capitol Records. For those who followed the underground sensation that began with their landmark first three albums, Castaways and Cutouts, Her Majesty, and Picaresque, the move to Capitol looked like it could spell the end of the band they knew and loved. But resting in the trust of literary front-man Colin Meloy, The Crane Wife signifies a big middle finger to the rules of what is and what should be an indie major. The result was far from a pop radio hit or an abstract concept album. Instead, The Crane Wife is The Decemberist’s boldest artistic statement to date as indie pop, prog rock and romantic folk collide around multiple tales of the darkness within the human condition by way of the twelve minute epic “The Island,” the haunting ballad “Yankee Bayonet” and beat-friendly funk of “The Perfect Crime #2.”
Anyone who has followed the Decemberists’ rise from just another quirky Portland, OR band to one of the most unique and celebrated indie acts around knew that this album was coming. With The Hazards of Love, Colin Meloy takes the band from the loose maritime and old-world concepts of their previous records to full-on rock opera. Those who fancy such things will likely call it the band’s masterpiece: it has almost all the things that make their records such a joy: bombast, beauty, word-play, melodrama, and a great story, but what there is not is what Meloy has always been so good at: songcraft. Instead, he sews disparate and incomplete patches together to create an impressive but convoluted and confusing whole. Sources: http://www.glidemagazine.com/articles/54675/the-decemberists.
