Billboard.com recently reported that The Decemberists' upcoming album, "The Crane Wife," is thematically based on a tragic Japanese folk tale, but band leader Colin Meloy promises a fair dose of rock'n'roll, rape, murder and violence as well. "It wouldn't be a Decemeberists record without it," he told Billboard.com.
Due Oct. 3 via Capitol, the set is the fivesome's fourth full-length and their first since moving over to a major label from
Kill Rock Stars. Recruiting Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla and Seattle mainstay Tucker Martine to man the decks, the group finished writing 22 songs and is in the midst of whittling them down to a single record.
"The last thing we want is a double album," Meloy says. "85 to 90 percent of double records smack of self-indulgence and we just didn't want to hand that to [Capitol]. But it's not like the songs we're cutting are throwaways. We're kinda attached to all the songs we make."
Describing the forthcoming set as their "weirdest yet," Meloy says "The Crane Wife" will be bookended by "epic-long" songs, both clocking in around the 12-minute mark -- "The Island" and the title track. The latter, which is performed in three "movements," defines the thrust of the record, revolving around the story of the title character.
Read more at Billboard.com.
