It’s been a strange and busy last couple of months as far as new musical treats have been concerned. In fact, it’s entirely feasible that I could happily knock out a 2011 Top Ten right now, and I’d be quite surprised if the resulting list turned out to be much different than one I may put out in December, such is the abundance of first-quarter quality that this year has so far blessed me with.
I hope it is different however, or at least challenged. I’d hate for the rest of this year to end up being a bit crap. Although I suspect the album I currently have at Number One is going to prove to be almost completely impossible to dislodge. But that’s ruining what is supposed to be fun at the end of the year. So the backlog continues unabated, which I really want to get shifted by the end of the week, when this dumb-ass blog turns a whole one year old (the exact day which shall be celebrated by this scribe with a trip into town to see the Twilight Singers, so that’ll be a bit of a treat).
Pretty much all the stuff I’ll be going on about this week are records that have sunk into the consciousness in gentler fashion than some of the others written about recently, or where releases have clashed a bit with other outputtings from artists more familiar to me and so have dropped a tiny bit in the playlist pecking order. But just because some records have been more eagerly awaited than others, or have larger and shinier immediate hooks, doesn’t mean that I don’t have the same amount of time to listen to them, or am not as anxious to find the time to talk about them. Sometimes it’s better to hang on to wait for the tunes to hit home properly and the right words to come.
In this respect, I am so glad that I have never had to do this for any sort of a living. Having to churn out a certain amount of words by a certain time on something I don’t like is something that bloggers and fans should be eternally grateful for never having to do.
Anyway.
This is an album I got sometime last month, and it’s been getting rather a lot of earplay certainly during the last couple of weeks. As an introduction to this band, it seems to be a bit of an odd one as brief rummagings in the vague name of research seems to unearth words such as ‘complex’ and ‘conceptual’, whereas The King is Dead strikes me as being very straightforward in its execution and approach to a rootsy Americana sound with a cheerfully distinct point of reference. In fact, it’s a bit of an odd introduction to The Decemberists all round for me, as it’s one of those things that blazes in on a wave of familiarity so initially overwhelming that it starts off as a bit of a distraction.
But this is a Very Good Thing, as although there’s much channelling of early REM going on here (indeed, it’s almost impossible to resist the urge to belt out “Fiyaaaaaa-haaaa-haa” during the chorus of central song Down By the Water), but it’s done with such care, grace and affection (and occasionally with someone from REM playing along in the background, for Peter Buck chimes in on three songs) that the end result is a welcome nod and a hug for a band whose early output deserves such gently reverential chanelling. And like a good Tarantino film, The King is Dead uses exposed musical roots as an act of love for the source material and a springboard for the band’s own ideas.
The only slight downside to this is it can be a bit of a diversion while one tries to work out where everything is coming from, rather than to just enjoy each song for what it is. This is probably why it’s taken me so long to scribble about the record, and I must admit that the sumptious (and slightly out-of-step with the rest of this folky-pop-rock album) 1970s stylings of closer Dear Avery seems to these ears to be invoking the spirit of Carly Simon’s excellent themetune to top Bond flick The Spy Who Loved Me, although that may well be down to my own odd little connective processes rather than anything else.
Despite the band’s name, this is certainly a very ‘Springtime’ album, and is destined to get more and more airplay with each longer day that approaches. And while it’s definitely the Decemberist’s Reservoir Dogs to REM’s City on Fire, there’s more than enough original thought and deed to bring out the best qualities in this homage.
No related posts.
Recent Comments