One year after picking up Picaresque, The Decemberists’ third full length release, my brother gave me The Crane Wife, the band’s fourth release, and first on a major label (Capitol) for Christmas this year. After one listen The Crane Wife won my personal Best Album of 2006 award. I haven’t been as excited about an album since my best album of 2005, Sufjan Stevens’ Illinois. Every track is great, and some are simply amazing.
The Decemberists are known for their archaic storybook lyrics and that doesn’t stop here. The title track (actually 3 songs, the third being the first song on the album and the first two comprising a medley towards the end of the album) is a recreation of a Japanese folk tale. In it, a man finds a wounded crane one day and nurses it back to health. Soon after, a woman shows up at his door and the two are married. Because they are poor, the woman says she can spin beautiful yarn, but the man must never look in on her while she is doing it. The man pushes her harder and harder because of his greed and finally his curiosity overcomes him and he looks in the room. Inside is the crane, pulling out her feathers to spin in the yarn. Upon spotting the man, the crane flies off, never to be seen again.
In addition to the literary feel of the lyrics they are often dark. Colin Meloy, the lead singer and lyrist, has a penchant for writing about abused children, thieves, murderer’s, and star crossed lovers tales ending in death. The topics are handled so expertly, though, and woven into such beautiful stories, that you could hardly be offended and in fact end up appreciating the rawness of the stories. The song “Shankhill Butchers”, based on the actual murderers in Ireland, reads like a Grimm’s fairy tale. The story was used to warn children into good behavior. The chorus goes:
Good lyrics need good music to hold them up, and the music on this album is excellent. The Decemberists are typically described as “indie-folk” or perhaps even “indie-pop”, but it really is hard to classify the music. There are hints of rock through the ages from the Led Zeppelin-esque “When the War Came” to the 1970’s prog rock-ish 3 song opus “The Island” (especially the excellent middle track), and speckles of 80’s and 90’s rock throughout. The band certainly makes good use of its musical predecessors. The songs are upbeat when they need to be and down trodden at the right moments. Every track alternates between acoustic guitars, distorted electrics, drums, and bass guitar, all perfectly holding up the story book lyrics.
There’s no such thing as a perfect album, but this one is darn near close. The best part is that this prolific 5 piece from Oregon (they’ve already put out 4 full length albums in 4 years) is a long way from finished. It will be hard to top The Crane Wife, but even a near miss would still be an excellent album.
The Decemberists are known for their archaic storybook lyrics and that doesn’t stop here. The title track (actually 3 songs, the third being the first song on the album and the first two comprising a medley towards the end of the album) is a recreation of a Japanese folk tale. In it, a man finds a wounded crane one day and nurses it back to health. Soon after, a woman shows up at his door and the two are married. Because they are poor, the woman says she can spin beautiful yarn, but the man must never look in on her while she is doing it. The man pushes her harder and harder because of his greed and finally his curiosity overcomes him and he looks in the room. Inside is the crane, pulling out her feathers to spin in the yarn. Upon spotting the man, the crane flies off, never to be seen again.
In addition to the literary feel of the lyrics they are often dark. Colin Meloy, the lead singer and lyrist, has a penchant for writing about abused children, thieves, murderer’s, and star crossed lovers tales ending in death. The topics are handled so expertly, though, and woven into such beautiful stories, that you could hardly be offended and in fact end up appreciating the rawness of the stories. The song “Shankhill Butchers”, based on the actual murderers in Ireland, reads like a Grimm’s fairy tale. The story was used to warn children into good behavior. The chorus goes:
“‘Cause everybody knows
If you don’t mind your mother’s words
A wicked wind will blow
Your ribbons from you curls
Everybody moan, everybody shake
The Shankhill Butchers want to catch you awake”
Good lyrics need good music to hold them up, and the music on this album is excellent. The Decemberists are typically described as “indie-folk” or perhaps even “indie-pop”, but it really is hard to classify the music. There are hints of rock through the ages from the Led Zeppelin-esque “When the War Came” to the 1970’s prog rock-ish 3 song opus “The Island” (especially the excellent middle track), and speckles of 80’s and 90’s rock throughout. The band certainly makes good use of its musical predecessors. The songs are upbeat when they need to be and down trodden at the right moments. Every track alternates between acoustic guitars, distorted electrics, drums, and bass guitar, all perfectly holding up the story book lyrics.
There’s no such thing as a perfect album, but this one is darn near close. The best part is that this prolific 5 piece from Oregon (they’ve already put out 4 full length albums in 4 years) is a long way from finished. It will be hard to top The Crane Wife, but even a near miss would still be an excellent album.
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