The Decemberists--The Crane Wife

With accordion and bouzouki alongside, The Decemberists signed onto Capitol Records to release their fourth album, The Crane Wife. In the eyes of many, The Decemberists – a band who enjoys dressing in American Civil War styled outfits – lost all their indie-rep by making the jump to a big-label. The Crane Wife shouts clearly from the roof-tops that it matters not what label backs you, it’s the music that matters.

The running story within The Crane Wife is loosely based on an old myth from Japan, which is cut and jumbled throughout the album (the ending opens the album, the beginning ends it), and basically intermixes a man, a crane, and a wife. The Crane Wife, Parts 1 & 2 rounds out the better part of eleven minutes, and is clearly divided into two distinct songs squished into one. Emotional, loving, hopeless, hopeful, and wonderfully clandestine throughout, The Crane Wife story is backed by The Decemberists’ call-card folk instrumentals. While The Crane Wife, Parts 1 & 2 is the lyrical and ballad masterpiece of the album (if not The Decemberists’ entire discography), this story-line is only a slice of the album.

Following their American Civil War-style dress are a number of songs that could fit perfectly into the time period, including When The War Came. A powerfully repetitive instrumental-line supports Colin Meloy’s haunting lyrics. Sweeping melodies and spine-chilling choruses push The Decemberists’ work beyond mediocrity into breath-taking emotional pieces. Shankill Butchers displays The Decemberists’ love of folklore of yore, singing as a lullaby of the gang of murders that will come and rip "Your ribbons / From your curls" if children do not listen to their parents.

The Decemberists prove that signing to a major label does not mean that they will give up their wonderfully odd indie roots. The Crane Wife is a masterpiece of lyrical and song-writing. Always original, songs like O Valencia!, Summersong, and Sons & Daughters are wonderfully uplifting yet emotionally down-trodden folk-melodies that should be played again and again. The Crane Wife is yet another masterpiece from The Decemberists, if not their best work.

(Published at 365Mag.com)