The previous two offerings from The Decemberists; ‘The Crane Wife’ and ‘The Hazards of Love’ proved that this Oregon five-piece were capable of greatness. Colin Meloy seems to posses the extraordinary ability to produce music which is both musically and lyrically dense. Add to that the albums are underscored by a concept and listening to The Decemberists is not too dissimilar to reading a great fantasy fiction novel. It was, therefore, with much anticipation that I approached their sixth studio album ‘The King is Dead’
Their latest offering, however, is entirely different from its predecessors. If ‘The Hazards of Love’ was their homage to Brit-Folk; then ‘The King is Dead’ is their salute to Americana. The underlining framework for this album is predominately folk music, but it is heavily cloaked in country music. Indeed, Neil Young was cited as an influence for this album along with R.E.M. Peter Buck even plays guitar and mandolin on three of the tracks. They have also dispensed with an overall concept and it’s a much simpler affair than the other albums in musical terms if not lyrical content. According to Moley, writing and touring ‘The Hazards of Love’ proved an exhausting experience and they wanted to get back-to-basics for their next effort and that is exactly what we get with ‘The King Is Dead’.
When one is use to having a dictionary at hand for the lyrics, recurring characters, a map to guide your way through the dense musical layers, and ever-changing time signatures, such simplicity almost feels a bit of a letdown. It’s generally Middle-of-the-Road music, perfect for summer drives along the coast or a happy sing-along around the campfire. That’s not, however, to relinquish this to mediocrity. The Decemberists are, after all, great song writers no matter how the songs may be packaged.
The album demonstrates its intent straight away with opener ‘Don’t Carry It All’ and its harmonica introduction leading us into the album. I was just waiting for the distorted guitars to flourish and the forest queen to emerge from her slumber. This was not to be the case. The whole album is a solid country-folk album peppered with acoustic guitars, fiddles and harmonica. The heaviest it gets is with a pedal steel guitar! The album generally flits between simple guitar driven ballads (January Hymn) to more up-tempo numbers (Rox in a Box). ‘Down By the Water’ is undoubtedly the best song from the whole album. This is largely due to the great vocal harmonies of Moley and guest vocalist Gillian Welch who also lends her excellent vocal talents to other songs on the album. The vocal interplay is reminiscent of some of the great male/female country duos of old.
Colin Meloy’s nasal vocals as well as the re-emerging harmonica and fiddle solos do tend to grate a little after a few songs. ITt was the depth to their music which always made the Decemberists so interesting to listen to. In saying this, ‘The King Is Dead’ can certainly sit proudly among their other body of work. In fact, for many other bands this could well be considered a great album. However, when you have set the bar so high, as The Decemberists have, this is always going to come across as a bit of a letdown. It may well have been inspired by Neil Young but lacks that rock edge that Young always married so well with folk music. These are ten simple, yet very pleasant, folk songs. ‘The King Is Dead’ surely won’t be seen as a career highlight. With a band capable of greatness, ‘The King Is Dead’ may very well be an intermediary for yet another great work of fiction in the future, or once can hope at least.
Rating:6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment