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The Decemberists are a quintet from Portland (singer-songwriter
Colin Meloy of Montana-based Tarkio, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, guitarist Chris Funk,
bassist Jesse Emerson, drummer Rachel Blumberg)
that reinvented pop music from a scholarly viewpoint.
The six-song EP Five Songs (2001) already displayed an unusual balance
of brainy lyrics and simple melodies:
Oceanside,
Shiny,
My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist,
Angel, Won't You Call Me?,
I Don't Mind,
The Apology Song.
Castaways and Cutouts (Hush, 2002 - Kill Rock Stars, 2003 - Jealous Butcher, 2005)
is a collection of infectious pop constructions, ranging from the
lively folk-rock of July July
a` la Turtles to the
Mersey-beat march and soaring refrain of The Legionnaire's Lament
to the Kurt Weill-ian cabaret sketch of A Cautionary Song.
They rank with the best of Neutral Milk Hotel.
However, the real soul of the album and of the group lies in the laid-back moody
moments, that vastly outnumber the effervescent ones:
the quietly solemn country-rock of Leslie Anne Levine,
the desolate lament with gospel organ of Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect
the soul-rock shuffle with accordion and organ Odalisque,
the sleepy piano-based lounge ballad of Cocoon,
the subdued serenade Grace Cathedral Hill,
culminating with the ten-minute quasi-psychedelic meditation of California One Youth and Beauty Brigade.
Her Majesty (Kill Rock Stars, 2003) is less entertaining, probably
because it was recorded with less acumen and patience, but it still contains
its dose of catchy melodies
(Billy Liar,
Song For Myla Goldberg),
as well as more pensive and elaborate compositions
(the seven-minute The Gymnast High Above the Ground,
the seven-minute I Was Meant for the Stage).
Half way between the two are simple singalongs enhanced with eccentric music:
The Chimbley Sweep
nods at music-hall and Parisian street music,
the accompiment of Shanty for the Arethusa could have been lifted from a
western-movie soundtrack.
They occasionally slip into moronic balladry
(Los Angeles I'm Yours,
The Bachelor and the Bride) that only proves the limitations of the
whole project.
The EP The Tain (Acuarela, 2004) contains the eponymous 18-minute
five-movement track, a folk-rock hymn for the post-nuclear age.
The EP will be collected on
The Tain/Five Songs (Jealous Butcher, 2004).
Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars, 2005),
wth John Moen on drums and Petra Haden on violin,
demonstrated Colin Meloy's growth as a singer and arranger,
and the band's generally inspired mood.
If the most visible facet of their art is the stately folk-pop cavalcade
The Infanta (one of their most captivating creations),
they run the gamut with classic elegance and simplicity from the
romantic Turtles-like ditty We Both Go Down Together to the melancholy Eli the Barrow Boy), drenched in the pathos of a medieval British ballad;
from the bouncing rhythm of The Sporting Life, that evokes the party
music of Tamla Motown and the Supremes,
to the sophistication of the seven-minute The Bagman's Gambit, that harkens back to the emphatic progressive-rock of the 1970s.
The spectrum is enormous. Rarely has one voice covered so much territory
while searching for its soul.
The arrangements change all the time:
the funereal Leonard Cohen-ian From My Own True Love,
the gallopping rhythm'n'blues 16 Military Wives,
the tragicomic, cabaret-tish, nine-minute fantasia The Mariner's Revenge Song.
This album is a tour de force of emotional storytelling.
Their fourth album, The Crane Wife (2006), turned out to be their
most experimental yet, thanks to the rambling multi-part suites: the
12-minute The Island and the 12-minute The Crane Wife.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Stefano Lucarelli)
I Decemberists sono un quintetto di Portland (cantante-autore
Colin Meloy, tastierista Jenny Conlee, chitarrista Chris Funk,
bassista Jesse Emerson, batterista Rachel Blumberg) che hanno
reinventato la musica pop da un punto di vista erudito. L'EP di
5 brani Five Songs (2001) mostrava già un insolito
bilanciamento di testi intelligenti e melodie semplici: Oceanside,
Shiny, My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist, Angel,
Won't You Call Me?, I Don't Mind, The Apology Song.
Castaways and Cutouts (Hush, 2002 - Kill Rock Stars, 2003
- Jealous Butcher, 2005) è una raccolta di ritornelli pop
contagiosi: Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect, Leslie
Anne Levine, le vivaci July July e The Legionnaire's
Lament, la quasi gospel Odalisque, e l'epica California
One / Youth and Beauty Brigade. Si affiancano ai lavori migliori
dei Neutral Milk Hotel.
Her Majesty (Kill Rock Stars, 2003) è meno divertente, probabilmente
perché è stato registrato con meno fiuto e pazienza,
ma contiene ancora la sua dose di ritornelli orecchiabili (The
Bachelor and the Bride, Shanty for the Arethusa, Los
Angeles I'm Yours, The Chimbley Sweep), e di composizioni
più cerebrali ed elaborate (I Was Meant for the Stage
e il brano da sette minuti The Gymnast High Above the Ground).
L'EP The Tain (Acuarela, 2004) contiene l'omonimo brano
da 18 minuti diviso in cinque movimenti, un inno folk-rock per
l'era post-nucleare. L'EP sarà compreso in The Tain/Five
Songs (Jealous Butcher, 2004).
Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars, 2005), con John Moen alla
batteria e Petra Haden al violino, mostra la crescita di Colin
Meloy come cantante (ma non come autore) e la vena ispirata di
tutto il gruppo. Se il lato più visibile della loro arte
è il vivace pop-folk di The Infanta, The Sporting
Life e 16 Military Wives, sono comunque altrettanto
capaci di raccontare atmosfere commoventi (The Engine Driver),
sordide (On the Bus Mall), malinconiche (Eli the Barrow
Boy), tragiche (The Mariner's Revenge Song).
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