The Decemberists

What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World (Capitol)

Indie rock fanatics and tastemakers have gotten so used to Portland’s Decemberists having a narrative concept (The Crane Wife, The Hazards of Love), or trying to prove something (the “We’re not a prog band – really!” songcraft of The King Is Dead) that an album as straightforward as What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World feels underwhelming. Put aside expectations of grandeur, however, and Colin Meloy’s musical and thematic obsessions reward handsomely. The lustful “Philomena” emulates Sixties girl-group pop, while the melancholic “Make You Better” and “Cavalry Captain” find the band pursuing indie pop at its most melodic. “Lake Song” pursues Nick Drake under a pink moon, while “Carolina Low” and “Better Not Wake the Baby” evoke folk of a less specific but more timeless nature. “Anti-Summersong” and the resigned, painfully meta “The Singer Addresses His Audience” touch on one of Meloy’s pet themes: the relationship between artists and their consumers. What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World isn’t a concept LP or any kind of statement of higher purpose. Instead, it simply illuminates the Decemberists’ inviolate strengths.

***.5

This article appears in April 10 • 2015.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.