The Decemberists, WHO SOLD THE FUCK OUT BACK IN 2006, are releasing The King Is Dead January 18 on Capitol Records (on Rough Trade in Europe). The album’s “10 concise, country-based songs” is an intentional shift toward “simplicity,” according to the press release, and sees the band working not only with producer Tucker Martine, but also with Gillian Welch and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. Nice. According to Colin Meloy:
It’s a real challenge to make simple music, and lot of times we had to deliberately hold off and keep more space. This record is an exercise in restraint. […] Over the last eleven years or so, since I moved to Portland, I feel like I’ve been mining mostly English traditions for influence. I guess I’ve kind of come back to a lot of the more American music that got me going in the first place — R.E.M. and Camper Van Beethoven and all these bands that borrowed from more American traditions like Neil Young and the Byrds. Sometimes I kind of miss the epic-ness of the other albums, but it’s nice to get all of the information across in three minutes. It’s like going from reading a novel to reading a bunch of short stories.
The Decemberists will appear on Conan November 18 to perform “Down by the Water,” the lead single off the album. Guaranteed to be “very funny.” In fact, I’m already laughing. Hahaha! See!
The King Is Dead tracklisting:
01. Don’t Carry It All
02. Calamity Song
03. Rise to Me
04. Rox in the Box
05. January Hymn
06. Down by the Water
07. All Arise!
08. June Hymn
09. This is Why We Fight
10. Dear Avery
• The Decemberists: http://www.decemberists.com
• Capitol: http://www.capitolrecords.com