The Decemberists
The King Is Dead

From the blaring harmonica and loud, close-miced acoustic guitars that kick off opening track ‘Don’t Carry It All’, it’s apparent the Decemberists have backtracked from the sprawling mess that was their last record, The Hazards of Love.

But like many an overextended band before them, beating a retreat has proven almost as much a mistake.

Gone are the songs in four parts, reprises and double-barrelled song titles; in are pedal steel guitars and songs your gran could probably dig - if she doesn’t mind Colin Meloy’s ever-present voice-of-a-history-teacher and lyrics of the same cloth, of course.

Therein lies one of the key problems with The King Is Dead - the music’s often perfectly competent alt-country with lashings of mid-’80s, REM (complete with guest guitar from Peter Buck), which is totally within the Decemberists’ grasp - but Meloy’s vocals just don’t always mesh. It worked when the band’s specialty was sea shanties and literate indie rock, but if you’re going to mine the same vein of neo-Americana Ryan Adams perfected a decade ago, it helps to have a voice to match.

If you can get past that though, the songs aren’t too bad, and occasionally make up in atmosphere what they lack in ambition. ‘Rise To Me’ has the same languid feel as much of Adams’ 29 album, and ‘This Is Why We Fight’ sounds like it could have been on the band’s best record, Picaresque.

Album closer ‘Dear Avery’ cements the record’s second half as its best , adopting a sinister undertow that persists through its woozy, draw-out conclusion.

But on the whole, The King Is Dead does give off the impression the band knew they’d written some of the most indistinct and somewhat lacklustre material of their career, so thought ‘screw it, let’s throw some pedal steel guitar on there and call it Americana, critics love that shit’.

It’s not bad, but it seems like the Decemberists, from here on in, are going to be one of those bands saddled with the curse of once being fantastic, and now just being decent. Good enough for the hardcore fans, I guess, but if like me, you find the Decemberists often easier to appreciate than actively enjoy, it's perhaps the end of the road.

So if you came to the band by way of their haunting masterpiece ‘The Mariner’s Revenge Song’, move on - there’s nothing for you here.

Try it if you like: Ryan Adams, Wilco, The Shins
Buy The King Is Dead from iTunes