Recorded in a converted barn in their home state of Oregon’s Pendarvis Farm, The Decemberists’ fifth full-length solo album is a deeper foray into the music of their homeland than any of their previous work. From the harmonica that bursts onto the opening of ‘Don’t Carry it All’, both country and western are staring you in the face throughout. But the most inescapable influence is that of R.E.M, whose Peter Buck was hired to play on three of the ten tracks. As a consequence, songs such as Down ‘By The Water’ and ‘Calamity Song’ end up sounding like outtakes from R.E.M’s Automatic For The People more than anything else, and singer Colin Meloy’s drawling vocal quality is undoubtedly partially attributable to Michael Stipe. Yet the album does have its highlights.
As is so often the case, the simplest choices prove to be the best ones, and Meloy’s songwriting is most effective on those tracks where he leaves the barn-dancing behind in favour of simpler, acoustic forces. On ‘January Hymn’, he evokes maudlin and melancholic images of winters past, sung to a wistful melody as his guitar winds around circling riffs below. The similarly acoustic ‘June Hymn’ harks back to Neil Young and the better, more bearable sides of American folk-rock. But at other times, such as on ‘Rox in a Box’, the music just sounds as if you’re cringing your way through a Morris dance. Fortunately, The Decemberists have had enough songwriting experience to weave melodies sweet enough and lyrics weird enough for one to easily forget the questionable stylistic choices on this album. Unfortunately though, there is nothing special enough on The King is Dead to win them any fans outside of their already loyal fan base.
