The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums).
You Forgot It in People is the second studio album by Canadian indie rock band Broken Social Scene, released on October 15, 2002. It was the band's commercial breakthrough. You Forgot It in People features intricate, experimental production techniques and a large number of instruments coinciding with the band's vastly expanded size. Local excitement for the album was so big that initial pressings sold out quickly, causing the need for a 2003 reissue.
Picaresque is the third studio album from The Decemberists. It was released in 2005 on the Kill Rock Stars record label. The word "picaresque" refers to a form of satirical prose originating in Spain, depicting realistically and often humorously the adventures of a low-born, roguish hero living by their wits in a corrupt society.
Colin Patrick Henry Meloy is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, harmonica and percussion instruments.
5 Songs is a six-track EP by the Decemberists initially self-released in 2001. It is the first record the band released. The misleading title owes to the fact that the final track, "Apology Song", was written after the original self-produced CD was released. Meloy liked it so much that it was added to the album when it was re-released by Hush Records in 2003.
The Tain is an EP by The Decemberists released in 2004 by Acuarela Discos and in 2005 by Kill Rock Stars. The single 18-plus minute track, in five parts, is named after the Irish mythological epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, often simply called The Táin. With production help from Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie, the Decemberists recorded the EP over the course of four days in Walla's studio in Seattle, Washington. The album cover was designed by the Portland artist Carson Ellis, who is Colin Meloy's wife and has created artwork for each of the group's albums.
Carson Friedman Ellis is a Canadian-born American children's book illustrator and artist. She received a Caldecott Honor for her children's book Du Iz Tak? (2016). Her work is inspired by folk art, art history, and mysticism.
Tarkio was an indie rock band from Missoula, Montana which included Colin Meloy prior to his forming The Decemberists. Tarkio broke up in 1999, but found new popularity in a retrospective released by Kill Rock Stars in 2006.
The Crane Wife is the fourth album by the Decemberists, released in 2006. It was produced by Tucker Martine and Chris Walla, and is the band's first album on the Capitol Records label. The album was inspired by a Japanese folk tale, and centers on two song cycles, The Crane Wife and The Island, the latter inspired by William Shakespeare's The Tempest. National Public Radio listeners voted The Crane Wife the best album of 2006.
Colin Meloy Sings Live! is the first live album released by Portland musician Colin Meloy, frontman for the Decemberists. The album was released in April 2008, and is a collection of live recordings from various nights on the artist's solo tour in early 2006. It includes stripped down versions of songs by the Decemberists, a song that dates back to Meloy's college band Tarkio, live banter and covers of The Smiths, R.E.M., Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Shirley Collins. It includes two previously unreleased songs, "Dracula's Daughter" and "Wonder", the latter of which makes reference to Meloy's first—and recently at the time—born son.
Her Majesty the Decemberists is the second full-length album by The Decemberists, released on September 9, 2003, by Kill Rock Stars. The song "Song for Myla Goldberg" was written years earlier, after Colin Meloy had been a media escort for the novelist Myla Goldberg during a tour following the publication of her first book, Bee Season.
The Hazards of Love is the fifth album by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released through Capitol Records and Rough Trade in 2009. The album was inspired by an Anne Briggs EP titled The Hazards of Love. According to the band, frontman Colin Meloy had set out to write a song with the album's title, which eventually developed into an entire album. Becky Stark, Shara Nova, and Jim James provide guest vocals throughout the album, while Robyn Hitchcock makes a cameo guitar appearance on "An Interlude".
Killingsworth is the eighth studio album by The Minus 5, released on Yep Roc Records in 2009. The album was a collaboration with Portland, Oregon-based indie rock band The Decemberists.
The King Is Dead is the sixth studio album by The Decemberists, released on Capitol Records on January 14, 2011. Described as the "most pastoral, rustic record they've ever made" by Douglas Wolk of Rolling Stone, the album reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart for the week ending February 5, 2011. The song "This Is Why We Fight" reached number 19 on the U.S Alternative Songs Chart, while the song "Down by the Water" also charted in the United States. In November 2011, the band released an EP of album out-takes, entitled Long Live the King.
Long Live the King is an EP by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released on November 1, 2011, on Capitol. The release is composed of out-takes from their sixth studio album, The King Is Dead. The titles of both combine to create the traditional proclamation, "The king is dead, long live the king!"
Wildwood: The Wildwood Chronicles, Book 1 is a 2011 children's fantasy novel by The Decemberists' Colin Meloy, illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. The 541-page novel, inspired by classic fantasy novels and folk tales, is the story of two seventh-graders who are drawn into a hidden, magical forest, while trying to rescue a baby kidnapped by crows. They get caught up in an epic struggle, and learn of their connection to a magical parallel world while confronting adult authorities who are often cowardly or dishonest. The natural beauty and local color of Portland, Oregon, features prominently in the book.
We All Raise Our Voices to the Air is a 2012 live album by the folk rock band The Decemberists. The album was recorded during the 2011 Popes of Pendarvia World Tour to promote the album The King Is Dead at venues across the United States. The album was released as a double Compact Disc and a triple vinyl LP set. The title comes from a line in the track "The Infanta", from the album Picaresque.
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World is the seventh studio album from The Decemberists, released on January 20, 2015. The album's title comes from a line in the song "12/17/12", a reference to the date of Barack Obama's speech in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and lead singer Colin Meloy's conflicting feelings about the shooting and his happy personal life.
Florasongs is an EP by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released on October 9, 2015, on Capitol Records. The release is composed of five out-takes from their seventh studio album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World.
I'll Be Your Girl is the eighth studio album by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released on March 16, 2018 on Capitol and Rough Trade. Produced by John Congleton, the band experimented with new instrumentation during the album's recording sessions, including several synth-based compositions inspired by New Order and Depeche Mode. The album was preceded by the singles, "Severed" and "Once in My Life".
