So, the press release announcing this new Decemberists EP thing that’s coming out on November 1 calls this past spring’s The King Is Dead a “breakout LP.” I guess once you get to that third major label release following three full-lengths and a couple of EP-sized independent releases, each of which steadily paved the way for a much-publicized (in the indie world, at least) jump over to Capitol, only then have you finally made it. It’s not like that major label debut of theirs was any good or anything. Yeah, okay, I guess the rock-opera thing that followed it was iffy to most people, but still. Come on.
Sorry, just had to vent there. Anyway, yeah, about that new EP. It’s called Long Live the King, and, you guessed it, it’s billed as “a companion piece” to The King Is Dead. Which… is another way of saying that it’s a bunch of B-sides that weren’t compelling enough for that, you know, pretty Milquetoast-sounding record. Its six songs are taken from the same sessions at Pendarvis Farm and include the Decemberists-trademarked heavy-handed female singers track (“E. Watson”), the proverbial song with horns on it (“Sonnet”), a not-a-huge-stretch cover of the Grateful Dead’s “Row Jimmy,” and a home demo of a song that Kelly Clarkson might have rejected: “I 4 U & U 4 Me.” Pre-order for CD and 10-inch vinyl versions is happening now over at the band’s website and Amazon. It’ll also be available as a digital download from wherever digital downloads are illegally shared.
In other Decemberists news, those same Decemberists that I was just talking about a second ago when I was telling you about The Decemberists will be hitting up the PBS music show Austin City Limits again on October 22 with Americana mainstays Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sitting in to perform their contributions to The King Is Dead. Man, also, how can this king be alive and dead at the same time? Thanks a LOT, Quantum Theory.
Long Live the King tracklisting:
01. E. Watson
02. Foregone
03. Burying Davy
04. I 4 U & U 4 Me
05. Row Jimmy
06. Sonnet
• The Decemberists: http://www.thedecemberists.com
• Capitol: http://www.capitolrecords.com