"The King Is Dead" by The Decemberists Review
The Decemberists intended for an album with music to play live and did not to be surrounded by other songs, tunes to make that could just be picked out.
Colin Meloy said, "For all my talk about how complex [previous] records were, this may have been more difficult to do. It is a real challenge to make simple music, and many times we had to deliberately withhold and more space to keep. This record is an exercise in restraint. "
The challenge was the knee with the help of producer Tucker Martine (Producer, born in Nashville, working with REM, Sufjan Stevens, Spoon, etc.), REM's Peter Buck and Gillian Welch. The main instruments on the album are acoustic guitars, banjo, harmonica and violin (country fiddlers). The texts and Colin Meloy sings on the expected high levels that some of the factors that make this album so enjoyable.
Although "The King Is Dead" is a country rock album oriented on Americana, it's an album heavily influenced by REM ("Down By The Water" and "Calamity Song" might be REM songs), other influences include Tom Petty (the intro of "Do not Carry It All"), Dylan, Neil Young, etc. It is also an album that The Decemberists airplay ("Rox In The Box" could create "Down By The Water", "This Is Why We Fight") and thus closer to the mainstream.
The album is a big step in the opposite direction from "The Hazards of Love" from their latest album, and it seems a step in the right direction, even if it means losing some of the Decemberists fans the last album.
The album gets a good 8 / 10 earned by us.
"The King Is Dead" track listing:
"Do not Carry It All"
"Calamity Song"
"Rise to Me"
"Rox in the Box"
"January Hymn"
"Down by the Water"
"All Rise!"
"June Hymn"
"This Is Why We Fight"
"Dear Avery"