The Crane Wife - The Decemberists

The Decemberists Official Website

Label :  Capitol Records

On the Crane Wife, the Decemberists step beyond the realm of quirky indie band and deliver a sweeping epic that's as gritty as it is romantic. The storytelling is, as always, superb. The vocabulary is advanced without being tacky or pretentious. The music is among the most immediate I've heard from them. The album has a much more somber tone than previous releases. Death pervades nearly every track. Even the catchy first single, "O Valencia!", is a tale of forbidden love, with the female's accidental death at the hand of her jealous brother as the climax. Also providing a contrast to previous material, "Shankill Butchers" has essentially the same moral as "A Cautionary Song" but a more gruesome consequence. Musically it's very different, too. While the Decemberists have always had a fairly broad spectrum of sound, but the Crane Wife sees shades of Pink Floyd ["Come and See" from the Island set is reminiscent of the Animals era] and Led Zeppelin ["When the War Came" reminds me of "No Quarter" in more than one way]. "The Perfect Crime #2" shows a far heavier groove than we've seen from the band at this point. All this is indicative of a band with potential to outlast an indie-friendly musical environment and continue to create fantastic music.

Final Verdict: Modern Classic, wrap your head around it.

Audio 

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The Decemberists Official Website