The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

So. I said that I wouldn't go in order of my list, but I hadn't listened to this album for a while now and I couldn't resist the urge to give it another listen. I was instantly reminded how much I love this flipping album.

First of all, it took me a while to like the Decemberists. I think they were the second indie-rock band I listened to (after the Shins) and I just didn't like Colin Meloy's voice. It didn't seem right. After listening to my brother play them, I started warming up to them and now I still admit his voice is really weird, but I love it! It's such a refreshing sound sometimes.

Colin graduated with a degree in creative writing. That pretty much explains the diversity of their songs. He bases a lot of the songs off books or stories he's read or he just makes up his own stories and creates some pretty awesome ballads.

That said, The Crane Wife is one of the most diversified albums I've listened to. If it wasn't for Colin's familiar voice in all of them, I would sometimes think that some of the songs came from different bands all together.

There are actually 3 songs that go along with the album. "The Crane Wife" is split up into 3 parts. While the first two are awesome, part three has to be one of my favorite songs of all time. The band based this 3 part song on an old japanese folk tale of the same name. It's about an old, poor farmer that helps an injured crane that has fallen on his property. Anyway, he helps it out and gets it better, then it transfigures into a beautiful woman that he falls in love with. That's just the first part of the story but let's just say it doesn't end on a happy note.

Another highlight of the album is the track entitled: "The Island/Come And See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel The Drowning." Four different songs in one. This is an EPIC track. Kind of reminds me of Pink Floyd a bit. This one is based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest", but it seems Colin sort of spun an alternate ending on it. It's about a sorcerer and his daughter that are shipwrecked on an island and all the fun stuff that happens there.

Man, I don't to spend time talking about every track on the album but I really want to. Anyway, back the the diversity. You have some of these awesome ballads, then you have rock out music that sounds like Led Zeppelin (When the War Came), after that you have some funky-poppy music (The Perfect Crime), then you have a creepy acoustic song about a group of Irish serial killers (Shankill Butchers). Then to top it off, there is a really catchy feel-good song about immigration to America (Sons and Daughters).

I don't want to forget to mention the track "Yankee Bayonet". This is a duet with Colin and some chick from the band about a husband and wife separated as the husband is off fighting in the Civil War and the wife is left home pregnant and worrying for her husband. Awesome!

The Crane Wife is a sweet, diversified, reflective and creative album that just gets your mind off things. A+!

Indecision At Its Best

So I haven't had an update in a while now. It's mainly because of three factors:
1. I've been busy.
2. I've kind of forgotten about this blog.
3. I've stumbled on to some new music and I've been deliberating where to place it in my top ten list. Then I realized I don't quite like the rankings I've given my list.


While I seem to always have a constant mood (I seem to always have a content disposition), I think I have a music mood. That means sometimes certain music drives me crazy and at other times I love it. So I'm throwing away lists and just writing about any album at my leisure. I feel good about this decision. Not that anyone cares.