The Decemberists: "The Crane Wife"

[That Skipping Rope.]

Any other fans here? I had heard how amazing this group was for a few months, but I finally decided to try them out after I heard their amazing session on World Cafe. Anyway, this is the group's first major label release, but they aren't doing anything commercially successfully. Not only is the album musically stunning, but the concept behind it is CRAZY.

The Crane Wife is an old Japanese tale. While there are many variations of the tale, a common version is that a poor man finds an injured crane on his doorstep (or outside with an arrow in it), takes it in and nurses it back to health. After releasing the crane, a woman appears at his doorstep with whom he falls in love and marries. Because they need money, his wife offers to weave wondrous clothes out of silk that they can sell at the market, but only if he agrees never to watch her making them. They begin to sell them and live a comfortable life, but he soon makes her weave them more and more. Oblivious to his wife's diminishing health, his greed increases. He eventually peeks in to see what she is doing to make the silk she weaves so desirable. He is shocked to discover that at the loom is a crane plucking feathers from her body and weaving them into the loom. The crane, seeing him, flies away and never returns.

Band leader Colin Meloy found a version of this story and decided to write music based on it.

1. "The Crane Wife 3" – 4:18
2. "The Island": – 12:26
1. Come and See
2. The Landlord's Daughter
3. You'll Not Feel the Drowning
3. "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)" – 4:18
* Duet with Laura Veirs
4. "O Valencia!" – 3:47
5. "The Perfect Crime #2" – 5:33
6. "When the War Came" – 5:06
7. "Shankill Butchers" – 4:39
8. "Summersong" – 3:31
9. "The Crane Wife 1 & 2" – 11:19
10. "Sons and Daughters" – 5:13

MYSPACE:
www.myspace.com/TheDecemberists

OFFICIAL SITE:
www.decemberists.com/index.html

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

I've heard a lot about them from others, but I've never properly checked them out before!

Are there any tracks in particular that you'd recommend starting out with?

[RedDragon]

That cover is... weird.

[Punchanello]

i heard "O Valencia", their first single. They are like a weirder Arcade Fire.

[That Skipping Rope.]

I'd try "Cocoon" off their 2002 release Castaways And Cutouts. That defines their sound in one song, in my opinion.

[The Seldom Seen Kid]

haveyoueverbeenlow said:

I'd try "Cocoon" off their 2002 release Castaways And Cutouts. That defines their sound in one song, in my opinion.

Thanks- I'll let you know what I think.

A weirder Arcade Fire- sounds good to me! ;D

[HC]

tortuga said:

i heard "O Valencia", their first single. They are like a weirder Arcade Fire.

"O Valencia" is pretty good. And off of their last album, "16 Military Wives" was a very minor hit. It was one of my favorites from 2005.

[That Skipping Rope.]

The Decemberists were on The Colbert Report last night. You can catch a repeat of that tonight at 8:30 on Comedy Central.

[Deleted]

hc said:

tortuga said:

i heard "O Valencia", their first single. They are like a weirder Arcade Fire.

"O Valencia" is pretty good. And off of their last album, "16 Military Wives" was a very minor hit. It was one of my favorites from 2005.

16 Military Wives, We Both Go Down Together, and Engine Driver are all amazing songs. O Valencia and Shankhill Butchers are also really good.

[That Skipping Rope.]

Hello all,

Pre-sale tickets for our upcoming spring US tour dates will be available through Ducat King. The pre-sale begins on Tuesday, 1/23 at 1:00 pm local time for each venue (so, for shows in Boston that's 1:00 pm EST. For Chicago, 1:00 pm CST. And for Seattle, 1:00 pm PST). Tickets for the University of IL date will not be offered for pre-sale until a later to be determined date.

$1.00 of each pre-sale ticket sold will go to Sisters of the Road, an organization helping Portland homeless.

Purchase pre-sale tickets here:
decemberists.ducatking.com/index.php?1169258953&

And here are the dates:
03-21 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theater
03-22 Jersey City, NJ - Loews Theater
03-23 Boston, MA - Avalon
03-24 Boston, MA - Avalon
03-26 North Bethesda, MD - Strathmore Music Center
03-27 Upper Darby, PA - Tower Theater
03-30 Buffalo, NY - Center for the Arts
03-31 Grantham, PA - Messiah College
04-01 Norfolk, VA - The Norva
04-03 Raleigh, NC - Meymendi Concert Hall
04-04 Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theater
04-05 Nashville, TN - City Hall
04-06 Atlanta, GA - Tabernacle
04-08 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live
04-09 Tallahassee, FL - The Moon
04-10 Birmingham, AL - Alabama Theater
04-11 Memphis, TN - New Daisy Theater
04-13 Louisville, KY - Brown Theater
04-14 St. Louis, MO - The Pageant
04-15 Champaign, IL - Foellinger Auditorium (University of Illinois)
(pre-sale at a later, TBD date)
04-16 Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater
04-18 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater
04-19 Chicago, IL - Riviera Theater
04-20 Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater
04-21 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater
04-22 Denver, CO - Fillmore Auditorium
04-25 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater
04-26 San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater
05-03 Eugene, OR - McDonald Theater
05-04 Seattle, WA - Paramount Theater
05-05 Bellingham, WA - Western Washington University

The powerhouse phenom known as My Brightest Diamond will be opening the shows.

Pre-sale tix:
decemberists.ducatking.com/index.php?1169258953&

Information about Sisters of the Road:
www.sistersoftheroadcafe.org/

Wohoo! April 13th!

[TotallyEnormousExtinctDinosaur]

"O Valencia" is amazing!!!! I heard it on G Rock yesterday and was like "This sounds so familar. I can't believe I'm already forgetting who sings some of these 90's alternative classics." Then I realized it was a new song!