A few eyebrows were raised on both sides of the divide when Capitol Records decided to sign indomitable indie heroes, The Decemberists. With nothing obviously commercial about their sound, musings varied from wonder to fear that The Decemberists were about to become just another pop-indie band. Most fears, however, were allayed when talk of The Crane Wife, an old Japanese folktale that had stuck with Colin Meloy for years began to circulate. As it is, it comes with all the major label production values without sacrificing the sounds on which The Decemberists have built their back catalog.
Eclectic as always, The Crane Wife wavers from traditional folk, to over-the-top pop within seconds. Complete with haunting duets, sing-along ballads, and dabs and touches of scores of playing styles and influences, it is more cohesive than previous efforts, while exploring the same array of sounds and directions. Opening with "The Crane Wife Part 3" (parts one and two ubiquitously come later), the balladic nature of the album is set immediately. Carrying sounds of The Replacements, it quickly dives into "The Island", a twelve-minute, three-part epic canzonet and the neo-folk influenced "Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)." Not to be restricted, the listener is soon transported into the nigh-disco of "The Perfect Crime" and brutish, chopped guitars of "When The War Came". With a sound bolstered by acoustic marches, occasional duets and plenty of string-driven experimental neo-folk, the bravery shown by The Decemberists slowly warms the listener into the story of The Crane Wife.
On the merit of songs on display, one can only hope that the move to Capitol brings at least some of the fame that an album of this beauty deserves. Magnificent at times, understated at others, The Crane Wife is a collection of miscellany that never once sounds as scattered as its predecessors. Filled with whimsical charms and hidden depths, it begs to be warmed to and draws in the listener with effortless ease. Some will argue that this isn't the best album The Decemberists have written so far. They're probably wrong.
