the songs of the decemberists have always been characterized by colin meloy’s unshakable urge to tell a story and tell it well, with a musical accompaniment that oscillates between the light-headed and the grandiose. but with each tale often comes a darker underlining that isn’t that obvious with the exception of some of their epics like “the mariner’s revenge song”. in “the rake’s song”, our first taste of their upcoming rock opera the hazards of love (due in march), this darkness surfaces in dominating both the words and the music. meloy adopts the voice of the young man who marries early, something that “whetted his thirst/ until her womb started spilling out babies” which then becomes the bane of his existence. while the decemberists have always sounded direct and immediate, they’ve hardly expressed themselves as aggressively as this, with a deep growling guitar prodding meloy to an eventual annihilation of his narrated family, and towards a twisted end with a haunting little twist of its own.
1 response so far ↓
Orchester // March 16, 2009 at 10:24 pm |
This music is so distinctive, so unique, that you have to just listen and enjoy it. I have all the Decemberists’ CDs and they are all good. Is this one the best? Just list again and decide for yourself