The Decemberists

It is refreshing to hear a band that’s not trying to change the world.

Last night at Nashville’s City Hall venue (essentially a concrete box with fancy bathrooms), I heard the Portland-based rock group The Decemberists.

Consider the month of December. Its collection of faded reds and visible breaths (I’ve often thought it would be the best month to kill someone and get away with it) and mix in the wooded mysteries of the Northwest with its foggy fish markets, and you’ll have the inspiration for one of the most unique indie rock bands today.

Stephen Colbert’s “hyper-literature-prog-rock” description of The Decemberists oddly fits the band that dresses like Victorian funeral directors and writes songs about tall tales and Japanese folklore—such is the case with “The Crane’s Wife”.

Released in October of last year, “The Crane’s Wife” is their fourth and most successful album, produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla. (Picture below- Lauren and I outside City Hall)


On stage, the members seem like winners in an American Idol-Mental Institution edition. Guitar-player Chris Funk, playing under the alter ego “Crutchy McGee”, goes 300+ lbs. belly-down crowd surfing while accordion-player Jenny Conlee is in need of another remake of “The Shining.”

Gillian Welch guest appeared and played two songs with lead-man Collin Meloy in the most normal moment of the night.

I highly recommend downloading their 12-minute masterpiece “The Island” as well as attending a show for a first (or possible last) date. Check tour listings here: http://www.decemberists.com/tour.aspx"

As The Decemberists closed with “The Mariner’s Revenge Song”, featuring a giant whale swallowing the band members on stage, I could not help but apply the last verse to my entire experience as I walked to my car:

Don't know how I survived
The crew all was chewed alive
I must have slipped between his teeth

But, oh! What providence!
What divine intelligence!
That you should survive
As well as me