25 March - 4:30pm, Kingsford
In 2006 The Decemberists released The Crane Wife, a concept album based around a series of parallel narratives drawn from Japanese myth and Shakespeare, among other places. It was great. In 2009 they released The Hazards of Love, a concept album-cum-rock opera that told the story of shapeshifting rapists, river gods and heroics set in a pagan British mythic landscape.
It was god-awful. The story itself isn't that bad; Colin Meloy studied creative writing, and is obviously enchanted in the common themes and motifs that pop up again and again in pre-literate and classical myth. Critically, Hazards was ravaged for its over-reliance on the concept, the confusion of it's delivery (Meloy sang most of the eight or so parts), and the sacrifice of lyrical depth and musical variation for the sake of the narrative.
This year they have released The King Is Dead. The opening comments of most reviews I've been reading of it have been along the lines of Thank God there's no concept, thank God this isn't Hazards. It's simple roots-rock-folk-American. It's simple and enjoyable. Then the comments from people who enjoyed Hazards: this is just bubblegum country-pop. It's boring. It's commercial.
Now let me tell you about rebirth and the wintertime.
This album is pure James Frazer. The hint is in the title. And in the two "hymns" in the track list, 'January Hymn' and 'June Hymn'. One winter, the other summer, hymn as in religious song. The concept in The King Is Dead is seasonal change, winter to summer and back to winter again. There's no grand connected narrative here, but there are hints and associations in the lyrics.
Put simply, the common thread of most ancient religions comes from the problem winter faced to early agricultural communities. Winter caused the land to die, and nobody knew why winter happened. On the understanding that Hey, couldn't hurt, right? people began giving gifts to deities whom they suspected had the power to return the land to life.
People began to figure that whenever it went cold and dark in the world, they could sacrifice a child or a lamb or whatever to a god, and later on it would become spring again, and the land would become fecund and fertile. They began telling stories that explained the turning of the seasons.
These stories became more and more complex, riddled with new symbols and motifs as societies changed and developed. One of these is the Fisher King in Arthurian legend. The wounded impotence (literally, he's suffered a stab to the junk) of the King flows into his kingdom: the land turns to rot. Colin Meloy knows all this; it's from the same mythic world that he drew from for Hazards and The Tain. The King is dead? The Fisher King had to have at least crossed his mind coming up with that. There's also the more metaphorical association with new beginnings that The king is dead, long live the king expresses.
There are only two references to monarchical government in the lyrics. One is in 'Down By The Water', in which "the lash-flashing Leda of pier nineteen" is named "Queen of the water and queen of the old main drag". 'June Hymn' is a stripped-down, folksy pastoral that celebrates the coming of summer, and includes the lines "A barony of ivy in the trees / Expanding out its empire by degrees / And all the branches burst to bloom". For now I'm more interested in the latter reference, since I don't know what to make of the allusion to Leda.
The floral lyrics in 'June Hymn' refer back to the opening track 'Don't Carry It All', which describes "A monument to build beneath the arbors". Come June, the fertile season, "Training Jasmine how to vine / Up the arbor to your door / And more". That Jasmine is a plant and a girl's name is a nice touch. That she is sneaking around up pergolas, suggesting youthful trysting to go with the newness of the plant life, is another nice touch. That "And more" is a glib little euphemism positioned against imagery of a fertile land is an amazing touch that convinces me that Colin Meloy knows exactly what he is doing with this album.
I mean I could talk about seasonal and plant imagery some more. There's plenty. 'Rise To Me' promises that "To cold climes comes springtime". 'January Hymn' describes clearing "away the snow / And the green ground below", as well as "Pale the winter days after dark / Wandering the grey memorial park". By track six, 'Down By The Water', we have the first stirrings of change: "The season rubs me wrong / The summer swells anon". And look at the album art.
But even once we hit summer it's not all rosy. The human condition can't be cured by longer sunny days. There's an undercurrent of conflict that runs through the lyrics, beginning with "You and me in the war" that opens the second track, 'Calamity Song'. That song is about surviving the Apocalypse, and for its lyrical content the music is enjoyably upbeat. On 'Rox in the Box' Meloy sings how can only "endure our fellow man", while 'June Hymn has a throwaway line about "the thrushes bleating battle with the wrens". The memorial park in 'January Hymn' suggests that conflict is as regular part of the seasonal cycle as the flowers blooming. Track ten is "This Is Why We Fight", as amazing a love-in-wartime ballad as Her Majesty's "The Soldiering Life". My point is that there's something poignant about how community arises in the wintertime out of survival necessity, only to turn to war again come the summer.
Anyone who didn't see a concept in this album isn't listening to it. I mean even if some of my reading isn't anything close to what Meloy was thinking when he wrote it, there are enough lyrical associations between the songs for a strong and obvious theme to emerge. Oh, it's just pastoral imagery. They've done a country album, of course they're going to talk about natural and trees and seasons. Give Colin Meloy some credit. He knows what he's doing. This is more than just a collection of songs.
I'm not even going to bother talking about the music. The review scene has decided that they sound like R.E.M. and The Smiths and Springsteen and other bullshit 80s/90s rock I never listened to. It sounds like early Decemberists. Although with more slide guitar and well-perfomed harmonica.
Five stars. I mean Jesus.
MP3: The Decemberists - June Hymn
MP3: The Decemberists - This Is Why We Fight
In 2006 The Decemberists released The Crane Wife, a concept album based around a series of parallel narratives drawn from Japanese myth and Shakespeare, among other places. It was great. In 2009 they released The Hazards of Love, a concept album-cum-rock opera that told the story of shapeshifting rapists, river gods and heroics set in a pagan British mythic landscape.It was god-awful. The story itself isn't that bad; Colin Meloy studied creative writing, and is obviously enchanted in the common themes and motifs that pop up again and again in pre-literate and classical myth. Critically, Hazards was ravaged for its over-reliance on the concept, the confusion of it's delivery (Meloy sang most of the eight or so parts), and the sacrifice of lyrical depth and musical variation for the sake of the narrative.
This year they have released The King Is Dead. The opening comments of most reviews I've been reading of it have been along the lines of Thank God there's no concept, thank God this isn't Hazards. It's simple roots-rock-folk-American. It's simple and enjoyable. Then the comments from people who enjoyed Hazards: this is just bubblegum country-pop. It's boring. It's commercial.
Now let me tell you about rebirth and the wintertime.
This album is pure James Frazer. The hint is in the title. And in the two "hymns" in the track list, 'January Hymn' and 'June Hymn'. One winter, the other summer, hymn as in religious song. The concept in The King Is Dead is seasonal change, winter to summer and back to winter again. There's no grand connected narrative here, but there are hints and associations in the lyrics.
Put simply, the common thread of most ancient religions comes from the problem winter faced to early agricultural communities. Winter caused the land to die, and nobody knew why winter happened. On the understanding that Hey, couldn't hurt, right? people began giving gifts to deities whom they suspected had the power to return the land to life.
People began to figure that whenever it went cold and dark in the world, they could sacrifice a child or a lamb or whatever to a god, and later on it would become spring again, and the land would become fecund and fertile. They began telling stories that explained the turning of the seasons.
These stories became more and more complex, riddled with new symbols and motifs as societies changed and developed. One of these is the Fisher King in Arthurian legend. The wounded impotence (literally, he's suffered a stab to the junk) of the King flows into his kingdom: the land turns to rot. Colin Meloy knows all this; it's from the same mythic world that he drew from for Hazards and The Tain. The King is dead? The Fisher King had to have at least crossed his mind coming up with that. There's also the more metaphorical association with new beginnings that The king is dead, long live the king expresses.
There are only two references to monarchical government in the lyrics. One is in 'Down By The Water', in which "the lash-flashing Leda of pier nineteen" is named "Queen of the water and queen of the old main drag". 'June Hymn' is a stripped-down, folksy pastoral that celebrates the coming of summer, and includes the lines "A barony of ivy in the trees / Expanding out its empire by degrees / And all the branches burst to bloom". For now I'm more interested in the latter reference, since I don't know what to make of the allusion to Leda.
The floral lyrics in 'June Hymn' refer back to the opening track 'Don't Carry It All', which describes "A monument to build beneath the arbors". Come June, the fertile season, "Training Jasmine how to vine / Up the arbor to your door / And more". That Jasmine is a plant and a girl's name is a nice touch. That she is sneaking around up pergolas, suggesting youthful trysting to go with the newness of the plant life, is another nice touch. That "And more" is a glib little euphemism positioned against imagery of a fertile land is an amazing touch that convinces me that Colin Meloy knows exactly what he is doing with this album.
I mean I could talk about seasonal and plant imagery some more. There's plenty. 'Rise To Me' promises that "To cold climes comes springtime". 'January Hymn' describes clearing "away the snow / And the green ground below", as well as "Pale the winter days after dark / Wandering the grey memorial park". By track six, 'Down By The Water', we have the first stirrings of change: "The season rubs me wrong / The summer swells anon". And look at the album art.
But even once we hit summer it's not all rosy. The human condition can't be cured by longer sunny days. There's an undercurrent of conflict that runs through the lyrics, beginning with "You and me in the war" that opens the second track, 'Calamity Song'. That song is about surviving the Apocalypse, and for its lyrical content the music is enjoyably upbeat. On 'Rox in the Box' Meloy sings how can only "endure our fellow man", while 'June Hymn has a throwaway line about "the thrushes bleating battle with the wrens". The memorial park in 'January Hymn' suggests that conflict is as regular part of the seasonal cycle as the flowers blooming. Track ten is "This Is Why We Fight", as amazing a love-in-wartime ballad as Her Majesty's "The Soldiering Life". My point is that there's something poignant about how community arises in the wintertime out of survival necessity, only to turn to war again come the summer.
Anyone who didn't see a concept in this album isn't listening to it. I mean even if some of my reading isn't anything close to what Meloy was thinking when he wrote it, there are enough lyrical associations between the songs for a strong and obvious theme to emerge. Oh, it's just pastoral imagery. They've done a country album, of course they're going to talk about natural and trees and seasons. Give Colin Meloy some credit. He knows what he's doing. This is more than just a collection of songs.
I'm not even going to bother talking about the music. The review scene has decided that they sound like R.E.M. and The Smiths and Springsteen and other bullshit 80s/90s rock I never listened to. It sounds like early Decemberists. Although with more slide guitar and well-perfomed harmonica.
Five stars. I mean Jesus.
MP3: The Decemberists - June Hymn
MP3: The Decemberists - This Is Why We Fight
true. sweet analysis incidentally.
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