And if you don't love me let me go

JRodDecemberists, originally uploaded by lotifoazurri.

John Roderick as the history teacher in the Decemberist's new video for 16x32

My lede sucks, but I stand by the rest of the review. I can't wait to see them at the Orange Peel in May:


"Picaresque: adjective. Of or relating to rogues or rascals; also, of, relating to, suggesting, or being a type of fiction dealing with the episodic adventures of a usually roguish protagonist."

The album title of The Decemberists third full-length album title gives listeners a clue as to the subject matter that the Portland, Ore.-based five-piece chamber indie-pop group explores during the 11 tracks that encompass its most ambitious work to date. Ranging from narratives about the passion between international spies to seafarers swallowed by whales, "Picaresque" manages both high arrangement afforded by having an upright bass, accordion, piano and theremin in addition to the usual rock complement of guitars and drums, and simple, stripped-down melodies that allow frontman Colin Meloy's literate writing to shine through. On the bombastic end of the spectrum is the full-sounding track 'Espionage', which features a swell from simple voice and guitar to a crescendo of strings, plus the band's unobtrusive rythmn section, that remains largely out of the way but important to the album's mood.

In much the same way that Meloy's lyrics evoke the best of western fiction and the sepia-toned world that yellowed book pages connote, The Decemberists' history is a chronology of the Northwest's evolution as the epicenter of American indie-rock. First signed to Portland-based Hush Records, which has nurtured other notable underground bands such as Kind of Like Spitting, the band made the jump to Olympia, Wash.'s Kill Rock Stars label in 2002 for the re- release of "Castaways and Cutouts" before putting out a second full-length entitled "Her Majesty The Decemberists" in 2003. Never resting on its laurels, the band saw the release in 2004 of "The Tain EP," which was based on an 8th century epic Irish poem, and had musical nods to epic '70s bands like Deep Purple.

While these previous efforts have showcased Meloy's promise, culled from his degree in creative writing, "Picaresque" is in many ways the most complete and even work the band has produced to date. Recorded in a converted church with the help of Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer Chris Walla, whom the band worked with on "The Tain," the album moves with each literary flourish to the denouement of each mini-story of love, loss and death as the band gives decibel weight to the song's intended emotion.

Meloy avoids the affliction of his musical compatriots and expresses emotion through the stories he tells instead of culling material from thinly veiled personal experiences. While it is hard to pin down the influences that might immediately pop out of another band's sound, Meloy admits freely in news releases that the tapes of '80s college rock music his uncle sent him and his parent's reasonable listening habits played into his tastes for the more literate, if not less approachable, side of music.

Although Meloy may have missed his calling to teach as a English professor, fans of Dickens or Melville will appreciate the way that "Picaresque" unfolds during repeated close listening, with previously unheard swells, accents and layers of detail making their presence known. Equal parts folk, orchestra and lush pop, The Decemberists' newest effort will ensnare anyone with a pair of headphones and the willingness to be led into a world that is both apart from our own and at the same time a product of a culture at war.