Crane Wife, The - Decemberists

.../> The first track, The Crane Wife 3, sets an amazing tone for the album. It's part of a trilogy of songs, eccentrically out of order and telling the Japanese folk tale of a man who helps a wounded crane, gets a beautiful wife who can make beautiful cloth, gets greedy and doesn't notice his wife's deteriorating health. It's a beautiful acoustic song that sets the standard, and if you like it you'll like the rest.

After the 'end' of ...
...big.

The Crane Wife 1 & 2 is the dramatic beginning of the album, conveniantly placed near the end. It's almost as long as The Island but with a more obvious difference between parts- the first being upbeat and almost triumphant and the second being slow, beautiful and ultimately mournful.

Sons and Daughters is the last track on the album and it deserves to be. Intentional or not, some last tracks carve a niche as being ... more

When you've written songs about love, death, war, art, drugs, rock n' roll, how you're extremely good/bad and how someone else is extremely good/bad you might start repeating yourself. What's left to do but use a song to tell a story? That is what the Decemberists do. They're an eccentric indie/folk group from Portland who make a name for themselves using an amazing array of instruments like mandolins, bottle-necks, accordions, double-bass and ukuleles.

Let me tell you now that I have nothing bad to say about this album.

The first track, The Crane Wife 3, sets an amazing tone for the album. It's part of a trilogy of songs, eccentrically out of order and telling the Japanese folk tale of a man who helps a wounded crane, gets a beautiful wife who can make beautiful cloth, gets greedy and doesn't notice his wife's deteriorating health. It's a beautiful acoustic song that sets the standard, and if you like it you'll like the rest.

After the 'end' of the Crane Wife's tale it trails straight into the album's 12-minute epic The Island. For the band lengthy ballads are nothing new (see The Mariner's Revenge Song) and this is one that's been more polished than any of its predecessors. What also sets this track apart from the album is a change in style during the middle movement, calling back to progressive bands like Genesis or Yes with the use of synths and a much heavier use of guitars than normal. Although I'm used to epic songs with the likes of these, they rarely stick around as a favourite. The Island is one of those rare specimens that can keep you interested for the full course.

The third track, Yankee Bayonet, features the guest singer Laura Veirs who's voice is delightfully unusual (my being English and all). It also features some of the most moving lyrics on the album, which is saying something because the lyrics on this album are of a consistently high standard that is very hard to find.

O Valencia! is possibly the only track I don't have wild praise for, although it's a brilliant track in it's own right. It hasn't had it's turn yet, but maybe one day I'll suddenly love it more than life itself. It tells a story of love and woe and enemies and family and untimely death and has a really nice chorus.

The Perfect Crime #2 proves that ballads don't always have to be about love. This song tells the story of, you guessed it, a perfect crime. A group of criminals, a perfect plan, a very cool song.

When The War Came is another big favourite for me. And it's another track that's slightly heavier than your average Decemberists, with a driving rhythm and just a pinch of spite. It's about war of course, and it conjurs up all sorts of relevant topics and ideas and has one line that I think is amazing: "When the war came, with a curse and a caterwaul, When the war came with all the poise of a canon ball".

Shankill Butchers is a little breather of sorts, all acoustic guitar and solo vocals. But don't think you're getting off easy, because with classic Decemberists morbidity this song is about brutal murderers, kidnappings and bad vibrations.

Summersong is arguably the catchiest track on the album, and if you've heard the first ten seconds you know why. It has a crisp sound, an upbeat feel, accordians and lovingly crafted lyrics. In a theoretical scenario, say a man has you at gunpoint in a CD store and you have to find him one track on this particular CD that has the most appeal to an average listener and will garuntee subduing his killing urges with sound so that you can get away without holes in you, this is the track you pick. No ifs or buts or bullets. Summersong will save you from almost any situation. I put this to practical use in a muddy field at midnight surrounded by people I didn't know dancing to a bass line you can feel in your teeth. Slipping my noise-cancelling headphones on I drifted instantly away into a land of serenity.

I spouted most of that just to make the paragraph big.

The Crane Wife 1 & 2 is the dramatic beginning of the album, conveniantly placed near the end. It's almost as long as The Island but with a more obvious difference between parts- the first being upbeat and almost triumphant and the second being slow, beautiful and ultimately mournful.

Sons and Daughters is the last track on the album and it deserves to be. Intentional or not, some last tracks carve a niche as being 'last tracks', leaving you feeling satisfied or yearning for more or talkative or thoughtful, and this is one. It tackles war-like themes once again with talk of bunkers and bombs. I have to mention the multi tracking vocals as well, used amazingly first out of beat with each other singing rounds and growing every time, then after a breather retuning in a unified triumph with the line "Hear all the bombs fade away" which can never be repeated enough.

...

There's only so much praise you can give in a review without coming across sounding like a crazed fanatic, but let me tell you that I have only been listening to The Decemberists a short time, and this is the first album of theirs I have ever paid a lot of attention to. I got it for Christmas and it practically became the soundtrack to my new year because it has stayed almost unrivaled on repeat for over a month.

So I hope I've earned your limited trust in reviewing the album in detail, when I could so easily have posted six lines screaming at you with caps lock demanding that you buy it. Rest assured I'm doing it in my mind, because you won't regret it if you do.

For fans of: Beirut, Howling Bells, Hot Puppies, Land of Talk, Regina Spektor, Ben Folds, Frank Turner, anything that doesn't have a genre but is mellow.

Recommended to everyone really. I have a hardened metal fan who is hooked already.

Oh and, by popular demand:

Buy this album you fools!! The Decemberists are amazing and under appreciated!!! You will be doing yourself the favour of a lifetime, also it guarantees you a place in heaven next to Ghandi and Helen Keller and Jesus. Buy it or I'll cut you. 

...less