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| Wednesday, November 01, 2006 |
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Word Playin': The Decemberists
By Image Mag Staff @ 12:00 AM :: 327 Views ::
0 Comments :: Music: Artist Spotlight
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wordplay by Ben Simkins
images by Soren McCarty/MusicImagery.com
William Shakespeare once wrote, “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” As true today as the period in which he reined the British stage.
So it is true of bands and the approximate relationship they share with their name. More often than not, it fails to provoke anything more than an identifying point of reference for the genre. Case in point: take nearly any Emo band, pick an emotion or action with a month, day, season or place name, put them together and you have an ID tag. It is formulaic. Let’s try it shall we… Suffering from Autumn (and no you can’t steal it!) Add punctuation (or a dollar sign) to any rapper’s moniker and he’s suddenly Gangsta!
Does this mean they suck? Probably, but it’s not the names’ faults. Great bands have crap names; The Beatles come to mind. As does Thrice. We love the names because of the talent that backs them up, thus we build a relationship with them.
With this in mind, the cold, bleak, noir, desolate imagery brought to mind with their moniker, the Decemberists manage to provoke such an itching sense of intrigue with their name that you just have to take the bait and scratch. The name has two opposing references. First, the failed attempt by liberal minded individuals (around three thousand of them to be exact) to enact social, and governmental reform in Russia, on December 14th 1825, earning them the name. Second is in reference to the atmosphere that changes us all during the month of December. The intrigue and seamlessly integrated polar opposites don’t stop with the name.
Never one to shy away from a challenge, songwriter and front man Chris Meloy and his crew have embarked on their biggest one yet. Taking an old Japanese folk tale, The Decemberists have struck out beyond their comfort zone with their first major label release on Capitol Records, The Crane Wife. “It’s really a tragic, beautiful…unusual story. We’ve always been attracted to those types of stories,” replied multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk of the band, when asked about the reason for choosing this story to tell.
The Crane Wife tells the story of a man who finds a Crane struck by an arrow that he nurses back to health. He is subsequently rewarded with a wife who brings him wealth through the silk garments she weaves, a process he is forbidden to observe. As greed consumes the man, he puts his wife to work more and more, disregarding her waning health. Eventually he discovers her secret as he peers in on her work, where a crane picks feathers from her to create the exquisite garments. Seeing him, the Crane flies away and never returns.
Adapting this epic to music was the task The Decemberists set for themselves to begin their relationship with Capitol Records. But the story was only one influence this album pulled from. Sonically this album moves through a map of styles and emotions. At times you can hear remnants of R.E.M. (at their best) and Pink Floyd. Folk and Pop blend so seamlessly it’s hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. This is one of those albums where it is near impossible to play a sample for someone and have him or her understand what the album achieves as a whole. Yet at the same time there is a uniformity that allows the story to shine through as a cohesive piece. With this said, the album is still not a concept album as you first might think. Not all the songs follow the story of The Crane Wife; instead using its influence to create further tales weaved in and out of the album. “I think inadvertently we have come up with a concept record, on a very loose scheme of things…but it’s not meant to be all tied together,” Funk said.
Stand out tracks include the folk-infused “The Crane Wife 3,” the Decemberists understanding of manipulating melody and emotion is almost immediately apparent. Beginning with the end, the Decemberists swiftly move on to a twelve-minute ballad entitled “The Island” with its three chapters “Come and See,” “The Landlord's Daughter” and “You'll Not Feel the Drowning.” This one starts out with a strong Pink Floyd feel while keeping it far enough at bay that it never borders on the contrived. It then swiftly moves through the three chapters giving each a unique sense of individuality, while still leaving them a feel of unity, much like siblings.
“When the War Came” sends the folk-ish album on its hard rock edge as the drivingly simplistic guitar marches through, possibly methodically placed to represent an army’s regimental meandering. This rhythm builds to a colossal level with Meloy repeating over and over, “with all the grain in Babylon.” And with that, it’s gone.
Playing off the album’s opener, the band begins the story with “The Crane Wife 1 and 2” (one song). Using a succession to the first melodic, feel good progression, Meloy and crew pull together a moving romp. As the album comes to a close with “Sons and Daughters” its crescendo stays with you, lingering long after the final, chanting lyrics.
The Crane Wife is an album with great depth, not only in emotion and story, but also in its vast array of instrumentation. It seems that The Decemberists have chosen each song’s instruments as carefully as its melody or lyrics. “Everyone has their arsenal of instruments at this point in time, we didn’t want to become known as the mini, folk orchestra. We just sort of started to realize that it diminishes what each instrument can do. More isn’t always better,” said Funk when asked about the process.
With The Crane Wife, The Decemberists have sent a clear and decisive message. “Signing to a major has changed us. But that change was orchestrated by us, and our need to evolve past what we have done before.” And in that task they have succeeded with flying colors.
November 14th @ The Paramount
Decemberists.com
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