CD REVIEW: ‘The Crane Wife’ offers a perfect marriage of story and song
On their latest release, “The Crane Wife,” Portland, Ore.’s The Decemberists have make a marked departure from their previous work.
Their first release on a major label, “The Crane Wife,” finds the band expanding its sound and updating its influences, moving from the British folk rock of the 1960s to the vast, intricate arrangements of later progressive rock bands like Genesis and King Crimson.
The result is a more involved, more difficult listen than their last album, the light but powerful “Picaresque.” And, while not without merit, “The Crane Wife” will not likely draw new fans to the Decemberists’ tent.
This isn’t because the album isn’t good. Its best moments – the “Crane Wife” song cycle and the brilliantly vibrant single “O, Valencia!” – are filled with all of the tragic drama, inspired storytelling and pop hooks of their previous work.
But with the “Crane Wife” story covering two tracks and more than 15 minutes, it is unlikely that anyone will grasp this album listening to sample tracks at Borders.
Instead, this is the kind of album that is meant to be sought out and studied. The forays into prog-rock allow the band to explore an epic depth that was only hinted at in the “Mariner’s Revenge Song,” and they play a perfect foil to the lighter tracks on the album.
When the band starts singing rounds on the album closer “Sons & Daughters,” it avoids being overly precious because it follows on all 12 minutes of “The Crane Wife 1 & 2.”
The Decemberists prove themselves apt plate spinners on “The Crane Wife,” mixing the history of the Shankill Butchers and the legend of the Crane Wife with a sound that moves from introspective folk, bombastic rock and intellectual prog-rock. If this is what moving to a major label does for the Decemberists. Let’s hope they stay with Capitol Records for a long time to come.
Zach Pendleton is a The Utah Statesman music expert. Comments can be sent to zpendleton@cc.usu.edu.