REVIEW: THE DECEMBERISTS - AS IT EVER WAS, SO IT WILL BE AGAIN

4/5

A Long December.

It's been a long December, like the number of times the Counting Crows sing with 'The Bear' (Season 3 coming soon, peeps! And I've just started the whole thing, Chris), but the whimsical nature of The Decemberists are back 'As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again'. The brand-new album coming from the fall favourites, albeit in the June heights of the Summer season, of the forests of Portlandia, Oregon, USA. Running with the beautiful 'Beau Is Afraid' like album aesthetic for the trees. Not to mention their best since 'The Hazards Of Love'.

Spearheaded by the singles 'Oh No!' and 'Burial Ground' featuring the great James Mercer, it's been a slow six years since 'I'll Be Your Girl' was the latest in 2018. A pandemic and a panic have happened since they've been Kelly Clarkson, but Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen are back where they belong, like being the soundtrack to an anthropology shop. This ninth wonder of historical events and folklore is brought to a bold and beautiful conclusion, with their new classic 'Joan In The Garden'. As the band, famous for their audience participated, epic encores that turn their live shows into re-enactments Shakespeare in the park would be proud of, take almost twenty minutes to give France's Joan of Arc her flowers. And what a bountiful bouquet of guitars and melodies that will take you on a trip with the depths the likes of a Yellow Submarine couldn't descend too. 

'America Made Me' is the real statement amongst all the animals as The Decemberists (always remember the "the" with respect to the other "Decemberists") sing, "America made me/America saved me from myself/And all these wishers-well/America parade me/I dare you to lull me to my knees/And give me something sweet/Maybe something that will get me back to sleep." This may not be the same America that Razorlight chased, but it's still beautiful, after all this time. Just like this band, the Grammy winners with one of the best rock records of the year. 

"Early in the evening, when the working is through/And the fields all in furrows, and there ain’t much to do", 'The Reapers' still come, mind you. Yet The Decemberists are ready for them and all that may come their way over the water. In matrimony with a 'Long White Veil' like 'Four Weddings and a Funeral' for the most heartbreaking thing you'll hear all year. "I married her, I carried her/On the very same day I buried her/In the cemetery plot by her mother/Though she nevеr gave a thought to her mother/But shе looked so pale In that long white veil," Meloy mourns in a moving lament laced with bitter regret that might not just be his own. This is the kind of ode that leaves lumps and no dry eyes, in a house that lies if it tells you love and life are easy things to deal with. No wonder, December's very own get back to telling you someone else's story with 'William Fitzwilliam'.

'Don't Go To The Woods', warns the RIP City band. But how can you not, when all of this is so City of Roses beautiful. In the PDX, you know Portland people will yearn for 'The Black Maria'. And the flannel throwback days when at least love songs were as easy as saying 'All I Want Is You' after the 1,2,3. "Don't want run-on phrases/Your dull and moneyed phases/Drinks and downers/With out-of-towners/Drag me to your altar/When my footing falters/All I want is/ All I want is you/All I want is/All I want is you." You know this is going to be the next wedding song for those who escaped the sings of love hazards when the getting was good.

'Born To The Morning' rises with even more beauty, like a Beck 'Cycle' in 'Morning View', but it's not all heartbreak and hurt that yearns and learns, even if this band that keep pushing this epic envelope are 'Never Satisfied'. There's a penny for your thoughts and sweet nothings on 'Tell Me What's On Your Mind' that speaks, "Hey, so great to see you again/Blown in on a wayward wind/Oh how the years have bent and bound our lives/It's been such a lonely time/But know that I'm on your side/It's always a calm to confide our minds/But I don't want to bring you down/How can I bring you around/Back on to solid ground." And it really is great to see Decemberists (The) like waiting all year for that Christmas cheer. Restrained folk and all encompassing pop on the artwork of one of double album's best, like the 'Mellon Collie' of smashed pumpkins that will always remain in our 'Infinite Sadness'. Just as that was, real records will be once again. Evermore. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'Oh No!', 'America Made Me', 'Joan In The Garden'.