THE DECEMBERISTS RELEASE NEW SINGLE “ALL I WANT IS YOU” OFF FORTHCOMING ALBUMΒ AS IT EVER WAS, SO IT WILL BE AGAIN OUT JUNE 14
YABB RECORDS/THIRTY TIGERS
The Decemberists have released a new single, βAll I Want Is You.β The track, which appears on their forthcoming new album, is a simple and pleading love song set to finger-picked guitar, muted horns and light vocal harmonies Itβs the most unadorned song on the record, and in many ways the most emotionally potent track in the collection. Listen HERE.
Colin Meloy on βAll I Want Is Youβ: ββAll I Want Is Youβ is a love song. An unapologetic, wear-it-on-its-sleeve love song. I donβt write a ton of those, at least not in this vein. The song grew out of the finger picking pattern β βDonβt want pretty posesβ¦β β and I just followed that lead. In the end, it just kind of wrote itself. Itβs so bare bones, it lived for a long time in my songwriting notebook, kind of in hiding, before I got up the courage to put it out there. It shares a title and hook with many songs that have come before it, but I like to think Iβm merely adding my own take to that tradition.β
The DecemberistsΒ new album,Β As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, out onΒ June 14thΒ via YABB Records (Thirty Tigers). The band returns with their 9th studio album after a 6 year hiatus, with a remarkable double album produced by lead-singerΒ Colin MeloyΒ andΒ Tucker MartineΒ and featuring guest appearances fromΒ The Shinsβ James MercerΒ andΒ REMβs Mike Mills. The album is available for pre-orderΒ HERE.
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be AgainΒ is not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP, split into four thematic sides, no less) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hopes. The existential slog and capitalist vexation of βThe Reapers,β the opiated delusion and jumbled jingoism of βAmerica Made Me,β the guileless tenderness and absolute surrender of βAll I Want Is Youβ:Β As It Ever WasΒ is the redemptive testament of a band finding new communal hymns by revisiting several old modes at once. This, Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists albumβperhaps even the ultimate realization of 22 years of work.Β As It Ever Was, So It Will Be AgainΒ rings with the urgency and ardor of right now, maybe more than ever before.
The band teased the new album first with the release of the single, βBurial Ground.β βThe Decemberists are so back,β declared Flood Magazine. “βBurial Ground,β revives the bandβs warm, familiar folk-rock sound,β said Paste Magazine.. βFront man Colin Meloyβs buoyant vocals carry genuine eagerness and charm as he sings of graveyards over twinkling instrumentation. Loose guitar and flourishes of horns embellish the whimsical track, giving off a Beach Boys-style vibrancy.β They followed up the track earlier this month with a 19-minute prog rock epic titled βJoan In The Gardenβ
The Decemberists will head out on an expansive North American tour with both spring and summer legs. The tour kicks off next week, on April 30th in Kingston, NY at the Ulster Performing Arts Center and wraps up in August on the West Coast Highlights include the Brooklyn Paramount Theater on May 3rd, The Salt Shed in Chicago on May 21st and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on May 24th The band will return to their home turf, wrapping the tour in Troutdale, OR on August 3rd at McMenamins Edgefield. All tickets are on sale now with a full list of tour dates below.
For 20 years The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling American rock bands. Founded in the year 2000 when singer, songwriter, and guitarist Colin Meloy moved from Montana to Portland, Oregon and met bassist Nate Query, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, and guitarist Chris Funk, The Decemberistsβ distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start with the release of their debut EP 5 Songs in 2001. After making their full-length debut with Castaways and Cutouts in 2002, the band signed with Kill Rock Stars for the release of the acclaimed albums Her Majesty the Decemberists (2003) and Picaresque (2005), which was produced by Chris Walla. The 2004 EP The Tain β an 18-minute single-track epic β made the bandβs grand creative ambitions clear.
Around this time the bandβs permanent line-up fell into place with the arrival of drummerΒ John Moen, and they made the unexpected leap to Capitol Records for their first major label album in 2006. Fansβ concerns of whether the band would alter their trademark sound quickly vanished when they delivered their most ambitious and audacious record to date inΒ The Crane Wife, a song cycle produced by Walla and Tucker Martine (who would become a longtime creative partner) that added elements of β70s prog, hard rock and even quasi-disco to their palette. The album was met by wide acclaim fromΒ The New York Times,Β Rolling Stone,Β SPIN,Β Stereogum, and was named Best New Music byΒ Pitchfork.
Three years later,Β The Hazards of LoveΒ β a full-length concept album based on Meloyβs idea for a stage musical – was a Top 20 hit. In 2011, they topped themselves yet again with their first #1 album,Β The King Is Dead, which featured the GRAMMY-nominated song βDown By The Waterβ After their 2015 albumΒ What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World, which included the #1 AAA radio hit βMake You Better,β The Decemberists changed up their sound and explored new approaches to making music on their eighth studio albumΒ Iβll Be Your GirlΒ (2018) with producer John CongletonΒ NPR MusicΒ wrote βEvery band needs to refresh and reconsider its sound sooner or later, no matter how sharp it’s gotten over the course of a long career β even The Decemberists, a band whose records have always come bursting with verve…Β I’ll Be Your GirlΒ captures a collaborative spirit that keeps the band sounding vibrant and alive.β
The Decemberists have toured the world, performed at countless major festivals, and even founded Travelersβ Rest, a festival of their own curation in Missoula, Montana. The band has appeared on The Simpsons, collaborated with Hamiltonβs Lin-Manuel Miranda, and released their own crowd-funded board gameΒ Illimat. Colin Meloy is also the author ofΒ The Whiz Mob and the Grenadine KidΒ and theΒ New York TimesΒ bestselling Wildwood Chronicles as well as two picture books,Β The Golden Thread: A Song for Pete SeegerΒ andΒ Everyoneβs Awake.Β MeloyβsΒ WildwoodΒ Series is currently being made into an animated feature starring Carey Mulligan, Mahershela Ali, Angela Bassett, Jermaine Clement, Tom Waits and more.
Tour Dates
April 30: Kingston, NY- Ulster Performing Arts Center – SOLD OUT
May 2: Boston, MA – Roadrunner
May 3: Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount Theatre – SOLD OUT
May 6: Toronto, ON – Exhibition Place – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
May 7: Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE
May 8: Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
May 10: Washington DC – The Anthem
May 11: Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
May 12: Atlanta, GA – The Eastern
May 14: Dallas, TX – Majestic Theater
May 15: Austin, TX – Bass Concert Hall
May 17: St Louis, MO – The Pageant
May 18: Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theater
May 19: St Paul, MN – Palace Theatre – SOLD OUT
May 21: Chicago, IL – Salt Shed – SOLD OUT
May 22: Detroit, MI – Royal Oak Music Theater
May 24: Nashville, TN – Ryman Auditorium
July 12: Bend, OR – Hayden Homes Amphitheater^
July 13: Oakland, CA – Fox Theater
July 14: Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether – SOLD OUT
July 15: Los Angeles, CA – The Bellwether
July 18: San Diego, CA – Humphreys – SOLD OUT
July 19: Tucson, AZ – Rialto Theater
July 20: Phoenix, AZ – The Van Buren
July 22: Santa Fe, NM – The Bridge at Santa Fe Brewing
July 23: Denver, CO – The Mission Ballroom
July 24: Sandy, UT – Sandy Amphitheater
July 26: Missoula, MT – Kettlehouse Amphitheater
July 27: Spokane, WA – Spokane Pavilion
July 29: Vancouver, BC – Queen Elizabeth Theatre
July 31: Seattle, WA – Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
July 31: Seattle, WA – Woodland Park Zoo Amphitheatre* – SOLD OUT
August 2: Bellingham, WA – Mount Baker Theatre
August 3: Troutdale, OR – McMenamins Edgefield*
August 25: London, UK – All Points East
– co-bill w/ The Head And The Heart ^
– w/ Special Guest Ratboys unless noted with a β*β
ArtistΒ Links
Background Photo Credit: Holly Andres
