TOP 10 OF 2006: #7. The Decemberists – The Crane Wife

#7
The Decemberists
The Crane Wife

Folk purists may bemoan this celebrated Portland, Oregon group’s move to a non-indie label and toward a more diverse, rock-influenced sound, but The Crane Wife proves that Colin Meloy and company’s evolution was justified. The album is littered with superb, highly literate folk-rock, including the chilling “Shankhill Butchers” and “The Crane Wife 1 & 2,” a Japanese fable, retold with exquisite and emotional aplomb. But most impressive is “The Island,” a multipart epic that, like The Tain (the band’s 2004 EP) recalls Jethro Tull’s 1970s folk-prog masterpiece Thick as a Brick, both in its clever lyrical turns and in its musical complexity.