:: Track Listing

1. Shanty for the Arethusa
2. Billy Liar
3. Lost Angeles, I'm Yours
4. The Gymnast, High Above the Ground
5. Bachelor and the Bride
6. Song for Myla Goldberg
7. The Soldiering Life
8. Red Right Ankle
9. The Chimbley Sweep
10. I Was Meant for the Stage
11. As I Rise

:: Record Review

The Decemberists

Her Majesty, The Decemberists
(Kill Rock Stars; 2003)

Rating: 90%
Combined Rating: 82%


Last year's Castaways and Cutouts, re-released in 2003 on the infamous Kill Rock Stars label, is the kind of great album that seems to come out of absolutely nowhere. A debut full-length posing as a mid-career high by a weathered, evolved band, it's a stunning collection of story-songs in a broad folk-pop scope. Culling hundreds of Neutral Milk Hotel comparisons (a few rightfully so; Meloy's lyric style, though not so much his content, conjures many similarities to Mangum's narrative style), the album garnered a lot of attention in the past six months, which raises the question: why are they following up the album with another so quickly?

Think about it: you're an up-and-coming band getting some attention for an album that hadn't been released long before. For a record with so many easy choices for (attempts at) singles, it would've made sense for the band and label to plug the album longer before jumping into the sophomore effort. The talent is there, sure, but with a rushed sophomore effort anything could go wrong--and considering the amount of styles and ideas packed into Castaways, the band could feasibly focus on any specific style or ignore all that had been accomplished with their debut in return for a rushed collection of ideas treated to the production-du-jour. Or maybe take some of the spare songs from Castaways and just run in place for a while.

So, a year after the original release of their debut comes Her Majesty the Decemberists, an album that continues in the same lyrical tradition of their previous work but manages to burst out into even more production and songwriting ideas. Rather than a band sounding like another take on Mangum's style, suddenly the band has become an entity all their own, an image and sound that has become something consistently their own.

The album opens with one of its stranger cuts, "Shanty for the Aretusa." After a overly melodramatic opening, an acoustic guitar slowly takes over before Meloy's voice starts to construc what is unmistakably a Decemberists' song: the slightly off-center lead vocal with intricately written lyrics propelling the song forward. It's an impressive song with some of the album's best production, though it dpes lacks the energy of Castaways' leadoff track, "Leslie Anne Levine," and at some parts sounds almost a little too formulaic to be a great step forward for the group. And, just when you think the band has opted for darker textures with their new material comes "Billy Liar," a song with a couple of great pop hooks that could've easily been written by the Heavy Blinkers or a more upbeat Belle & Sebastian, with a lead guitar line right out of Rubber Soul. "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" changes gears once again, a stuttering acoustic guitar carrying most of the song, sporadically joined by luscious strings and, at one point, harmonica. Though the lyrics may not be the best Meloy has written, it's nevertheless another great song in the Decemberists' already impressive catalog.

The next track, "The Gymnast, High Above the Ground," is a seven-plus minute slow-building sectional ballad along the same vein as Castaways' "Cocoon." Much like "Cocoon," the long has several lovely melodies and terrific lyrics but the song's epic form requires more interesting ideas than either song has to offer after half the song is already over. The song can still be stunning when taken by itself, but it nearly derails the album's momentum. Thankfully, any lost is quickly saved with "Bachelor and the Bride," a great Bends-era Radiohead homage written only has Meloy could. "I'll box your ears and leave you here stripped bare," he sings as the music abandons him before obviously Selway-influenced percussion brings the song to its beautiful finale. As one of the more accessible and lyrically straightforward numbers on the album, it would also serve as a great first single and/or introduction to those who have yet to hear anything by the band.

Though Castaways' biggest fault was its loss of momentum on its second side (which is still pretty much all but forgiven after "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade"), Her Majesty pulls the opposite feat, keeping its absolute best moments for its last four songs. "Red Right Ankle" is a beautiful acoustic ballad, a sincerely romantic song that doesn't attempt to insult the listener with obvious cliché's or a predictable resolution. Instead of lyrically bringing the song to a conclusion, each chorus finds a different chord with each return before finally finding the most stirring progression to bring the song full cycle in a triumph of clever musical storytelling. "The Chimbley Sweep" (a lyrical spin-off of "Leslie Anne Levine's" only love, maybe) quickly kicks the album back into a livelier tempo.

After "The Chimbley Sweep" comes the album's real centerpiece, "I Was Meant for the Stage." An affirmation of Meloy's dedication to his art, the song starts off a quiet confession, slightly apologetic in tone before building into a a celebratory march. Meloy's ability to give his songs such life and energy surely comes from this dedication to performance and as "Stage" winds down into its massive free-for-all that unravels before the album's last track, "As I Rise," provides an intimate overture to the record. A song that wouldn't sound out of place on the self-titled Band album, Colin offers "As I Rise" as more of a companion piece for the album, an one-on-one backstage performance after the complete experience of Her Majesty rather than a separate movement. As such, the production lets the song swing by without having the focus on something that would require concentration like difficult lyrics or a strange vocal melody.

Essentially, "As I Rise" is an easily digestible piece that ends an album brimming with as many new and exciting ideas as their debut without retracing any substantial amount of ground. Not only does Her Majesty top their debut in nearly every way (despite not having a single song that is as ingeniously structured and executed as "Odalisque"), it manages to hold as much promise and life as "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" had us hoping the band would continue to embody. It's not without its ridiculous moments, but it really couldn't be a Decemberists record without them.

Ridiculousness aside, Her Majesty will probably be the album to convince most that the Decemberists aren't just a gimmick. Inventive, clever, accessible, prolific, and challenging, Her Majesty is better than any of us could have hoped.

Scott Reid :: 30 August 2003 |