The Decemberists - Picaresque

The Decemberists' third full-length release takes the fanciful lyrical subjects and defiantly non-rock musical tendencies of Castaways And Cut-Outs and Her Majesty The Decemberists and infuses them with the more muscular and electric sound of the 2003 mini-concept album, The Tain. The combination provides singer/songwriter Colin Meloy and crew with their first true masterpiece, an album that not only fulfills, but exceeds, the promise of their earlier records.

Meloy's pet obsessions with historical romance and the sea get their due, culminating in the nearly nine-minute suite "The Mariner's Revenge Song," but he also examines more real-world topics in the Morrissey-like portrait of runaway teenage hustlers "On the Bus Mall" and the embittered social commentary of "16 Military Wives." The true highlights, however, are the sarcastically jaunty Kinks-like shuffle "The Sporting Life," a first-person tale of dishonor on the playing fields set to the record's most insidiously catchy tune, and the churning opener, "The Infanta," where Meloy's linguistic over-achievements mesh surprisingly well with Chris Walla's assertive, harder-edged production.