Much like E, I’m tackling a pretty straightforward Decemberists song today. The band’s 2006 release, The Crane Wife, is notable for showcasing just how much The Decemberists had evolved in their 6 years as a band. Though the band’s sound had grown more lush and orchestral over their previous three LPs, the inclusion of heavy prog rock elements came seemingly out of left field* and added a new dynamic to the band’s sound.

The Crane Wife 1

Quietly plucked strings and Colin Meloy’s voice - exactly how you’d expect a Decemberists song to start. Cue the violins, complementing the guitar. The tempo is maybe a little faster than you might normally look for from the band, but you’re still in familiar territory. Though, really, it sounds like the song is building to something. Then, in the background of the song, the electric organ kicks in and the drums take control of the beat. Finally, one verse (and two-and-a-half minutes) into the song, everything goes way uptempo. Somewhere along the way, a keyboard kicks in that would sound completely at home in a Rush song. The drums move way up in the mix. If you listen closely, there’s an electric guitar in the background that alternately mirrors the notes that the organ plays and the notes that Meloy sings during the hook. A little xylophone gets thrown in for good measure, just so things don’t end up feeling too strange. This is The Decemberists on a bizarro Earth, where the music of the 1970s never went away. Despite the inclusion of electric instruments that you’d never anticipate hearing on a Decemberists album, it all works. In fact, it does better than simply work…it actually kind of rocks.

The Decemberists have never really shunned rock, but their upbeat songs have always been pop songs without the classic rock instrumentation that we’re conditioned to expect. In the Crane Wife 1, the band stays true to its traditionally dense, very smooth arrangements, while incorporating a style of rock music that would seem diametrically opposed to the established Decemberists sound. The result is one of their most succesful and interesting tracks to date.

In the song’s sparsely accompanied opening minutes, Meloy tells the story of a man walking alone on a cold night. Once you hear the narrator lament,

I am a poor man
I haven’t wealth nor fame
I have my two hands
And a house to my name
And the winter’s so
And the winter’s so long
And the winter’s so
And the winter’s so long

you don’t need to hear any more to understand this man’s intense loneliness. But, right as the song reaches its saddest point, he comes across a wounded crane in the woods. Knowing it needs him, and knowing that he can help, the music mirrors the man’s exultation in finding company.

And all the stars were crashing round
as I laid eyes on what I’d found

As he finds something to love, the music explodes (for lack of better word). The acoustic instrumentation that heightened the feeling of cold and loneliness that pervaded the opening verses of the song opens up to include the many varied, lively instruments mentioned above. What seemed to be another tragic Decemberists ballad ends up being one of their most exciting, joyful songs.

* That is, if you didn’t listen to The Tain.

The Crane Wife 2

Here we have The Empire Strikes Back of The Crane Wife trilogy. If you’re unfamiliar with the story of the crane wife, the narrator saves the crane’s life, and it comes back to him as a beautiful woman whom he marries. Once married, she begins selling her waving, which eventually lifts them out of poverty. However, as part of the deal, he must agree never to look in on her while she weaves. Well, he gets curious, looks in, and discovers that she is the crane he saved, weaving for him from the feathers that she pulls out of her body. Once he looks in, she leaves. That’s the portion of the story that The Crane Wife 2 tells.

Just as the first part of the song started lonely, but got jubilant as the singer found companionship, this song is as regretful and defeated as the man who’s greed cost him the love of his life. The mournful nature of the song is enhanced by swinging the pendulum away from “lush” towards “bare”. The acoustic guitar takes center stage in this song, with the organ, xylophone, and a piano playing backing roles. It’s a shorter, simpler song than anything else we’re going to spotlight this week. In fact, I am of the opinion that it’s more a necessary bridge between the fully fleshed out and fully excellent The Crane Wife 1 and The Crane Wife 3 than it is truly a song that stands on its own. But, it merited some discussion, so here you have it.

Discussion question: Is describing feathers as “soft as fontanelle” as disturbing to you as it is to me?

Both of these songs are familiar enough that it’s clear The Decemberists are behind them, but each departs from their traditional sound in significant enough ways that the listener recognizes that something new is happening with the band.