Release Date: January 18, 2011
Capitol/EMI; 10 Tracks; CD
Review by: Max Mertens
Let's get one thing straight: The King Is Dead isn't your typical album from The Decemberists.
There are no $10 words like "balustrade", "picaresque" or "tarlatan", no period piece rock operas, and no sprawling six-minute-plus song lengths here. Instead, The King Is Dead, the band's sixth studio album, sees lead singer Colin Meloy and company scaling back, stripping down, and bringing on a few special guests to make some of their most rootsy, Americana-influenced music yet. It's also perhaps their most accessible album since 2005's Picaresque, and a welcome departure from 2009's The Hazards of Love, an album that some critics and fans felt choked on its own ambition.
The majority of The King Is Dead (the title of which is believed to be an allusion to The Smiths' The Queen Is Dead) was captured in a barn outside Portland, Oregon last spring, a rustic approach to recording that is immediately evident when listening to the album. The first instrument you hear on opener "Don't Carry It All" is a harmonica, which might at first throw long-time listeners of The Decemberists for a loop, before Meloy's familiar voice comes in. The song also features guitar from R.E.M.'s Peter Buck, whose band's influence carries throughout this record. The slightly mournful "Down By The Water" (which also features Buck) in particular is reminiscent of the Athens, Georgia band's classic "This One I Love", and in no way is that a bad thing.
The band — Meloy, Chris Funk (guitar), Jenny Conlee (keyboard), Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums) — are also joined by folk singer-songwriter Gillian Welch on "Down By The Water", who adds an incredibly organic presence to The Decemberists' otherwise meticulous sound. The King Is Dead sees Meloy shed his English literature background in favour of more personal lyrics, such as on "Dear Avery", which is written about the singer's young son. As with previous albums, the artwork also comes courtesy of his wife, author/artist Carson Ellis. Meanwhile "All Arise!", with its fiddle solos and lines like "Baby wants a new spin, baby wants a new heart", is the closest you'll get to a country hoedown from The Decemberists. "January Hymn" is the standout on The King Is Dead, a gorgeous ditty, filled with nature imagery and simple acoustic guitar. In the past, the band have written some of their best songs about the seasons — see Castaways & Cutouts' "July, July!" and The Crane Wife's "Summersong" for two prime examples — and "January Hymn" is no exception. It's the folk-rock equivalent of chicken soup on a cold winter's day.
Critics of this album might argue that the band's multiple narratives and literary complexities are what set them apart from other bands, and that there is nothing here as catchy as "Sixteen Military Wives" or "The Infanta" (which was featured prominently in an season two episode of television series Mad Men). Let them. The King Is Dead is a solid addition to The Decemberists catalogue, marks a natural progression for the band, and proves that they don't have be elaborate to make music that'll hold up to repeat listens.
