B+
The Decemberists used to thrive on specificity. Until their previous album, “The King is Dead,” their songs were unashamedly about history and tall tales. One song could be from the perspective of a French legionnaire feeling homesick, and another about the impregnation of a woman by a forest spirit. It was dorky, but their commitment and Colin Meloy’s ambitious vocabulary made it work.
But The Decemberists aren’t copacetic or meritorious anymore – they’re merely very good. Their new album, “What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World,” combines their new poppy, Americana style with some traces of old-school Decemberists, and while nothing quite hits the heights of “The Crane Wife” or the parts of “Hazards Of Love” that worked, it’s still a very strong album.
Newcomers should enjoy the diversity of “What A Terrible World.” There are pop ballads, bluesy reveries and even one doo-wop inspired song, “Philomena,” which is one of the poppiest, most purely fun songs in The Decemberists' discography. It, like most songs, is about horniness, but it’s refreshing to hear it broken down this frankly, as Meloy sings about how “all I wanted in the world / was just to live to see a naked girl.”
For a sign of how The Decemberists have changed, look no further than “Cavalry Captain.” Gone are the days where Meloy’s historical protagonists would hope for Frigidaires, drink laudanum and do exceedingly specific period-appropriate things. “Cavalry Captain” is a simplistic, agreeable love ballad with a thin veneer of historical fiction put over it. “I am the remedy to your heart” is a line on the wrong side of corny.
That’s as opposed to the more vintage Decemberists' songs on the album, which are on just the right side of corny. “Lake Song” takes the typical Decemberists ballad structure and makes something more personal out of it. In the song, Meloy recounts a childhood lakeside encounter with newfound vulnerability. As he describes himself as “17 and terminally fey,” it’s hard to not feel like you’re finally seeing the real Meloy.
While The Decemberists’ new Americana streak leaves a few of the songs on the album as generic, twanging singalongs, it also gives the album some of its standouts. “Till The Water’s All Long Gone” is bluesy new ground for the band, an album highlight that’s just as atmospheric as any old Decemberists ballad. Songs like this one make “What A Terrible World” feel like an evolution and improvement and not just a poppy throwaway.
“What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World” could stand to be a few songs shorter, but it’s a great synthesis of new and old Decemberists charm. Don’t come in expecting anything as crazy as a rock opera concept album (“Hazards of Love,” for anyone intrigued by that description), but “What A Terrible World” is a worthy entry into The Decemberists' discography and an accessible one to boot.