Review Summary: ...and The Decemberists are more alive than ever.
The calm after a storm. The thaw that follows a harsh winter. Cuddling after sex.
The King is Dead after
The Hazards of Love. Like a collective exhale, The Decemberists have followed up their magnum opus with a stroke of subtlety – something loyal followers have not seen much of since the band’s heyday in the earlier portion of the millennium. Climbing aboard an ambitious train of grandeur headed by front man Colin Meloy, The Decemberists embarked on a seventeen song, seventy minute journey in 2009 that alienated a portion of the fan base but also saw them receive accolades for successfully pulling off the most ridiculously pretentious indie album in recent memory. For all of its unnecessary pomp and frills,
The Hazards of Love brought together so many things that we all love about The Decemberists – their acoustic prowess, their ability to add weight to their sound in a progressive rock n’ roll vein, their penchant for trying
way too hard yet, against all odds, making it work…anything you could imagine,
Hazards had it. The explosive nature of the rock opera suggested that Meloy and company would take a milder approach next time around the block, and that is what brings us to
The King is Dead…an album that is largely symbolic and sheds light on the gentler side of a band whose folk foundations have been long hidden by a veil of grandiose themes and conceptual complexity. Welcome back boys, we missed you.
The King is Dead is the album’s title, sure…but it is also a metaphor for its unraveled, resounding simplicity. Like a king who ruled his territory with an iron fist, the past three records by The Decemberists have been bound by the stringency of their concepts. They were undeniably fun, and more often than not completely engaging – but they left little room for unique interpretation, thereby likening their music to a Broadway play or classic romantic novel. Whatever the record was,
it was. But what happens when those boundaries are removed, when the oppression is gone…when the king is dead? The answer, for The Decemberists anyway, is clear: calm yet varied artistic expression that harkens back to the folk and indie roots that launched them to begin with. It doesn’t take a song like “January Hymn” to illustrate the maturity with which the transition is executed, yet the band still bestows this jewel upon us as its calm, sweeping background
ooh’s and hums provide a canvas for Meloy’s lyrical portrait: ‘
On a winter's Sunday I go / To clear away the snow / And green the ground below…April all an ocean away / Is this the better way to spend the day? Keeping the winter at bay.’ The acoustic guitars ring with classy restraint, relying on the vocal harmonies and lyrics to help it depict a wintry atmosphere; something that is accomplished in every sense on what could easily be considered the best ballad in The Decemberists’ lauded catalog. Luckily, that is just the tip of the iceberg as the band presents us with one expertly crafted piece after another – from the optimistic sway of the opening “Don’t Carry It All” to the more subdued “Dear Avery.”
The King is Dead flows with all the swagger and confidence of seasoned musicians who know how to kick back and write music of exceptional quality – with no strings attached.
The album is accompanied by an almost country like vibe that lends each song an additional sense of personality. The harmonica-driven “Down By The Water” is a prime instance of the band’s departure from their progressive tendencies, pushing towards a sound that is more quaint and rural. Almost as if to highlight their exodus from glorious prog-rock, the song basks in its chord-driven tempo, contagious chorus, and duets featuring female vocalist Laura Viers. It is all very simple, and even as the flashiest song on the album, it does very little to draw attention to itself beyond what is there. It is the bare foundation - the raw musical components - that make
The King is Dead the best album that The Decemberists have composed to date. “Rox In the Box” challenges the listener not to stomp his foot to its infectious beat; “June Hymn” answers the arctic sensation of “January Hymn” with a much warmer feeling that is created, once again, through the detailed acoustic work and instrumentation performed out of a sense of rebirth within the identity of the band. There is little else out there in the way of music that sounds as refreshing and wholly satisfying as a band letting go of the reins, allowing their music to go wherever it naturally
should. This is the music The Decemberists were meant to make; free-spirited acoustic folk…and in this case, with a country-rock twang.
The King is Dead is an album that is difficult to completely take in the first time. The sudden change in style from over-the-top concepts to a quietly confident, country-tinged record might portray an initial illusion that this is rather dull. But fear not, because such a first impression is just that – an
illusion. The Decemberists deserve all the credit in the world for avoiding both of the possible pitfalls following
The Hazards of Love: an uneventful snoozefest indicative of change for the sake of change, or even worse,
another overblown, fully-realized rock opera.
The King is Dead, for all of its undoing of previous material, is actually a progression in The Decemberists’ sound. This is the kind of moment we all wait for. As music enthusiasts, hearing an artist play straight from the heart is as rewarding of an experience as any. With arms unbound, let us rejoice and toast The Decemberists’ arrival at a new era in their history:
so raise a glass to turnings of the season, and watch it as it arcs towards the sun…
