Photo: Bandcamp
In a recent profile on CBS, it was revealed that Colin Meloy, who, for 24 years, has written and sung for The Decemberists, lives outside Portland in a farmhouse, with his wife, children and a pack of llamas.
It felt like a perfect detail, as whimsical as his band, and the fact that his wife is an illustrator fits too. Meloy’s songs have always been stories first and foremost: the sea shanties of their debut, Japanese folk tales on The Crane Wife, the multi-part rock opera of The Tain. He’s often singing in the third person, and on the album Hazards of Love, plays multiple characters populating a single narrative.
All these years in, The Decemberists feel less like a backdrop for Meloy’s flights of fancy than a cohesive unit, and on their first album in six years, seem to be assessing their catalogue.
The album is called As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, which could be a wry joke about the fear of repetition. It is one of those late-career albums that feels a bit like a Best Of, but Meloy’s songwriting is still sharp..
Opening track ‘Burial Ground’ is, despite that ominous title, a perfectly welcoming start, featuring The Shins’ James Mercer. It’s worth noting that R.E.M. 's Peter Buck appeared on their album The King is Dead, and ever since, that band’s influence has been apparent. There’s more than a little Buck in Chris Funk’s jangly licks there.
The song ‘America Made Me’ is one of several here that look to the past; specifically the band’s earlier track ‘Los Angeles I’m Yours’, as Meloy grapples with his love/ hate relationship for the country. Or maybe it’s a follow up to ‘16 Military Wives’, which took aim at the USA’s involvement in various wars with a similarly ironic brass section; as cheerful as the subject matter is serious.
Early Decemberists albums have Meloy’s voice sitting loud and proud over the arrangements, all the better to catch the yarns he’s spinning. It was a deal breaker for some listeners who didn’t like his style, but on As It Ever Was, producer Tucker Martine has him sitting further down in the mix. He’s also just a better singer than before.
The other key member is Jenny Conlee, who plays keys and frequently sings back up, her tone helping keep Meloy’s in check.
You can hear it on ‘All I Want Is You’, a relatively straightforward love song, which, coming near the middle of an album full of dark fables, feels like a moment of respite.
As their career progressed, an element of prog rock crept into the Decemberists’ sound. It’s well represented here, on songs like ‘Born to the Morning’, which has Meloy’s voice heavily effected around bursts of synth whoops.
Among the various stories on this album there are peasants harvesting crops, a ghost story and cautionary tale, and a closing 20min tune about Joan of Arc. As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again runs an hour and seven minutes, which to newcomers may feel slightly exhausting, but to fans it’s a victory lap through a unique career.
The track ‘William Fitzwilliam’ was inspired by The Mirror and the Light, the third novel in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy about Thomas Cromwell. It concerns a member of Henry the 7th’s council, and Sheriff of London. How many songs can you say that about?
