John Nyman
Senior Staff
To sensitive music fans, the “indie” genre tag is a loose, uninformative buzzword. For The Decemberists, it’s actually misleading.
Though expressive and soulful in its realm, the band’s newest EP Long Live the King is powerfully devoted to the classic folk rock sound of decades before the rise of indie. Outsiders to the genre won’t see anything special in The Decemberists’ approach, but those who are comfortable with American folk, country, and blues styles will find well-aged ingredients mixed into groovy riffs and solid, flavourful song structures.
One of the most impressive elements of the EP is how gradually it amps up the intensity over the course of the short recording. While the first track is a traditional guitar and voice ballad, the next two songs deepen the record’s sound with subtly layered electric guitar. At the third verse of “Burying Davy,” the EP’s heaviest guitar noise bursts into the song’s steadfast lyrics, completing the album’s climax.
“Burying Davy” is Long Live the King’s best song. The track keeps up a slow, stable vocal progression reminiscent of a Civil War marching chant, combining it with an dense array of blues riffs. Meanwhile, the instrumentals build from a sparse backdrop to a full-powered hard rock jam. The song’s heaviness contrasts beautifully with the upbeat country sound of “Forgone” and the more traditional folk influences of “E. Watson.”
It’s after the halfway point that the album starts to lose some of its appeal. “I4U & U4Me” is upbeat with playful lyrics, but it’s not as catchy as “Down By the Water,” the band’s single off their last full-length album, The King is Dead.
The EP’s fifth of six tracks, “Row Jimmy,” a Grateful Dead cover, suffers from some of the legendary predecessor’s common downfalls. The Decemberists’ approach to the song is skilled, but most of us probably aren’t interested in tripping out to nearly seven minutes of classic folk rock.
The album’s last track, “Sonnet,” a musical interpretation of a poem by Dante, is also worth noting.
Long Live the King takes up some unique ideas in its songwriting and album structure in the short EP form, but overall stays close to tried and true folk rock tradition. For fans of the genre who aren’t tied to the classics, it should be a great track list to groove to.
