Send "The Decemberists " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Rollingstone |
 With their abstruse allusions and just-so arrangements, the Decemberists' albums often sound like they've been rehearsed and researched down to the last grace note. That's no knock — in fact, it's key to their appeal. But it's a pleasure to hear them cut loose on this eight-song EP, recorded live in an L.A. studio. They attack their back catalog with relish, jamming on jangly gems from this year's The King Is Dead, and breathing fresh life into older tunes. Best of all is a fiddle-sweetened cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" that suggests what the great Canadian might have sounded like if he came up in Appalachia....full text |
| Pitchfork |
| Like him or loathe him, Colin Meloy has become one of the most distinctive songwriters of his era. Combining antiquated diction with lilting melodies drawn from UK folk rock and U.S. indie pop, his compositions are recognizable whether they're sung by Marianne Faithfull, Patti Smith, or anyone else. What stands out most from the Decemberists' near-decade together isn't the albums. Instead, it's the songs-- "Billy Liar", "16 Military Wives", "O Valencia!", "On the Bus Mall"-- that are the best showcases for the Portland band's lyrical indulgences and clever arrangements. The pop song, especially the kind that hovers around the three- or four-minute mark, has been the ideal framework for Meloy's explorations of prog rock, sea shanties, wake music, fanfares, and showtunes. 2009's The Hazards of Love was an especially egregious misstep. A concept album with an overarching narrative involving otherworldly lovers and forest-bound shapeshifters, Hazards was grandiose and mock-epic, but it evoked a world much more circumscribed than can be found in almost any of Meloy's individual songs. Most recently, The King Is Dead's abrupt change in style played as a retreat: a means of making amends to the same fans Hazards risked alienating. Impressively, though, the album's renewed emphasis on standalone tunes made Americana jangle sound like not only a natural detour for the Decemberists, but an inevitable destination. A few months later, the eight-song iTunes Session puts curious punctuation on its predecessor, with nice flourishes of fiddle from former Nickel Creek member Sara Watkins, but a tracklist that pulls from throughout the band's discography while skipping the high points. The Decemberists fare better on iTunes Session when they play songs from the new album than when they travel back through their own and others' catalogs. "Calamity Song" may not be nearly as calamitous here as in its studio version, but the runaway ooh-ooh-oohs make for one of the EP's most unguardedly joyful moments. "June Hymn", meanwhile, is no "January Hymn", but the song's folksy ramble comes through more clearly in this slightly more stripped-down performance than it did on the LP. Still, King dud "This Is Why We Fight" is a dud again here-- further proof Meloy's examinations of military violence work only when he filters them through character and story (see also the genuinely affecting "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)" vs. the pedantic "16 Military Wives"). And the band tries to salvage "The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)" by reworking it as a languid country lament, but while fiddle and weepy pedal steel reinforce the tragedy of the lyrics, the melody feels soggy, the performance a bit aimless. "Shiny", from 2003 debut EP 5 Songs, likewise rambles, though it's worth revisiting that early effort's "Oceanside" and "I Don't Mind"....full text |
| Antimusic |
| On Wednesday The Decemberists iTunes Session Details was a top story. Here is the recap: The Decemberists have set an August 2nd release date for their exclusive iTunes Session. Here are the official details: The 8-song set plays like an informal retrospective with new versions of songs that span The Decemberists' entire 10 years, from their very first EP 5 Songs ("Shiny") through their new chart-topping album The King Is Dead ("Calamity Song," "June Hymn," "This Is Why We Fight"). The set also includes songs from The Crane Wife ("Shankill Butchers") and The Hazards Of Love ("The Hazards Of Love 4 (The Drowned)"), as well as covers of Leonard Cohen's "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye" and Fruit Bats' "When U Love Somebody...full text |
The Decemberists lyrics
