Aug 31 2006
New Decemberists: ‘Summersong’
I’m a latecomer to The Decemberists party. I only really discovered them a fair bit after the buzz that surrounded their previous album, ‘Picaresque’. Since then, I’ve got into that album and a few other songs, but they’ve never excited me enough to try and find more of their albums. I don’t know why this is; I know that there is certainly nothing wrong with The Decemberists and their songs, and they should be a band I absolutely adore, but for some reason I just don’t.
Anyway, last year they created a small stir by signing with major label Capitol Records, leaving a bunch of fans eager to hear whether their sound has been reduced to a shadow of it’s former self. While this is what sadly happened to Death Cab For Cutie with the release of ‘Plans’, the change in environment seemingly hasn’t changed The Decemberists at all. If you’re familiar with the dodgier parts of the internet, you’ll probably know that The Decemberists’ upcoming album, ‘The Crane Wife’, is now “available”. Despite my previous reservations about the band, this has quickly become one of my favourite releases that I’ve heard this year. For those of you worried about a potential dumbing down, the standard eccentricities are here, to the point of multi-part songs (the album opens with ‘The Crane Wife 3′ - parts 1 and 2 come later) and two songs that are in excess of eleven minutes.
Today, the first “official” free download was made available when ‘Summersong’ from the upcoming album was offered up on Pitchfork. Seeing as it’s been up there all day, I imagine all of you have already got it, but if you’re one of the three readers of my blog who doesn’t read Pitchfork, feel free to enjoy the song below. It’s not my favourite song from the album (’O Valencia’ wins that by a mile’), but it’s the one I’m less likely to get sued for posting. If you’re familiar with The Decemberists, there won’t be anything massively new and exciting here. If you’re not, it’s probably one of their most accessible songs yet, a nice little indie folk number that still manages to be full of lyrical eccentricities. At the very least, it should be curious to make you want to seek out more from the album.
MP3 The Decemberists - Summersong (expired)
‘The Crane Wife’ is released on October 3 on Capitol Records.
The Decemberists: Website || Myspace
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if you’re feeling inquisitive, i would recommend picking up castaways and cutouts, their 2003 release. it’s got some lovely songs, such as “here i dreamt i was an architect” and “california one/youth and beauty brigade” that have really stuck with me. i like picaresque, but i love castaways more, and i’m really looking forward to the crane wife.
“castaways and cutouts” was my favorite as well.