Picaresque by the Decemberists
9.5/10
A Picaresque novel is a story of a young roguish character who gets by based on their wits. If that’s the case, then where is that theme on the album Picaresque? The album is filled with narrative-based songs, with only two exceptions, and none of them fit the title.
But that doesn’t matter. What does matter are the lyrics, compositions, melodies, and overall quality of the album. Many Decemberists fans declare it their best album. Does it hold up to this reputation? Personally, I prefer The King is Dead, but it’s still incredibly well put together.
The music on Picaresque varies widely. The opener, “The Infanta,” is bold, loud, and grand. Then the songs change their dynamics, from the muted “Eli the Barrow Boy” to the dreary “For My Own True Love.” One interesting track is “The Sporting Life,” which bears little resemblance to the rest of the album in both lyrical themes and sound; its percussion takes the lead. Perhaps the most interesting song in terms of composition is the mammoth 8 minute “Mariner’s Revenge Song,” with mandolin, violin, upright bass, and various other instruments falling in step behind accordions and guitars. It churns forward, constantly changing, enhancing the narrative it presents. The album’s conclusion is the brief “Of Angels and Angles,” which is a short arpeggio-based song with nothing but acoustic guitar and Meloy’s vocals.
However, this is a Decemberists album, so the focus is on the lyrics. Every song on the album constructs a scene, narrative, or explicit message. Every song on this album is dark. From monarchs to suicide pacts to personal failure to lost love to government conspiracies to personal struggle, there is not one cheerful song on this album. That’s not to say that every song paints a dreary picture, or that the album is overly depressing. The songs focus on much more than depression. Colin Meloy is a fan of historical narratives (“Decemberists”, wonder where he got that!), and he sets several songs in the 1800s, such as “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” and “We Both Go Down Together.” Some, like “The Bagman’s Gambit,” are set in semi-dystopic settings. “16 Military Wives” is an all-out protest song. However, “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” has the most intense story of all, with an 8-minute narrative of revenge against a conman. While the stories widely vary, and can seem jarring at times (a story of how boy commits suicide is juxtaposed with a song about a boy who falls down at a sports game), sometimes they blend beautifully(a song about a widow is juxtaposed with “16 Military Wives”).
The album is dense, dark, and hard to get into, but if one is committed enough, you won’t ever put it down.
1. The Infanta – 8/10 A loud and intense opening with middle eastern elements. It describes a royal procession, focusing around a child monarch, the titular Infanta.
2. We Both Go Down Together – 9/10 Set in the 1800s, this song follows a young couple as they form a suicide pact on the cliffs of Dover. The song has a swift tempo and violins drive the verses, which lead into soaring choruses. The song goes into expository detail: the boy was rich, the girl was poor, his parents forbade it. It ends with them leaping off the cliffs: “We fall, though our souls are flying.”
3. Eli the Barrow Boy – 10/10 This song is depressing. Incredibly depressing. A quiet acoustic song, it only has Meloy’s voice, an accordion solo, and the guitar. The lyrics follow Eli, a young poor boy who pushes a wheelbarrow into town to sell coal. He is trying to buy a dress for his lover when she dies. Eli commits suicide, though his ghost is said to still push the barrow. The song works extremely well with its quiet atmosphere. The guitar and Meloy’s vocals are unnerving, and the vocals feature a female harmony. One of the highlights of the album.
4. The Sporting Life – 8/10 A bit jarring, really, to come to this song. It’s a percussion based song, with most of the instruments taking back seat until the chorus. It has a driving riff below the drums, giving them an extra rhythm. The lyrics describe a boy who has fallen down on the playing field of his championship game. He sees his humiliation and laments that he’s entered the “sporting life” Something tells me that Meloy has personal experience with this.
5. The Bagman’s Gambit – 10/10 This is a very interesting song. The lyrics tell the story of a young woman who kills a plainclothes cop and is tortured by the federal government. It is told from the perspective of a government agent, who remembers an affair they had. It doesn’t seem to be set in the real world, favoring a more dystopic feeling for the government, and it clearly takes place in D.C. The song has two distinct sections. The verses are quiet and acoustic, with dyads on the high E and B strings. The choruses, by contrast, are loud and full, with a wall of sound and emotion. The song climaxes with a distorted cry from Meloy, lost in a sea of distorted violins. It’s very intense and confusing. The coda is in the style of the verses and concludes the story like an epilogue.
6. For My Own True Love – 9/10 This is a dreary little depressing song. A woman lives alone in a small town. She constantly asks the postman for a letter, one from her own true love, lost at sea. This is likely a dig at the song “Please Mr. Postman,” which has very similar lines about waiting for letters from your lover; the difference is wonderfully dark. The song is composed in C minor, and has a very recognizable repeating melody. It’s slow, repetitive, and carries a great deal of emotion. Paired with the lyrics, it works beautifully.
7. 16 Military Wives – 10/10 The only non-narrative song. This song is a protest song, directing its anger at both the American invincibility: “America can, and America can’t say no” and the media response to Iraq: “And the anchor person on TV goes la-di-da-di-da.” It’s a little hard to pin a genre on it. It’s got saxes and trumpets on it, as well as organs and an upright bass. It’s fast, loud, and focused. It also fits well after “My Own True Love,” as 5 of the 16 wives lose their husbands.
8. The Engine Driver – 11/10 My hands-down favorite song on the album, and a very fun song to play on the guitar. This song is a little puzzling. The lyrics describe professions and loss, and the narrative seems to follow characters who seem frustrated at stagnation, with the whole song being tied together by the chorus: “I am a writer, a writer of fictions.” This makes the song seem to be one character, describing personalities he writes trying to rid his former lover “from my bones.” The song is composed in E minor/G major, and follows a simple progression of minor chords-major chords, reversed for the bridge, and shuffled for the chorus. This gives it a consistant and stable sound, but keeps it dynamic, despite the song lacking major changes. With the melody, lyrics, and its general catchy sound, it’s my favorite by far.
9. On the Bus Mall – 10/10 This song is very well written. The lyrics describe two teenagers from broken homes. They find each other in the streets and alleys, and build a life for themselves. It’s pretty clear that the couple are gay, as there’s the hint of male prostitution and the lack of femininity to the song. That being said, it is ambiguous, as no pronouns other than “you” are used. The song’s composition is well put together. The song’s verses trade back between two chords with electric guitar riffs in the background, and the choruses keep the same mood while building beautiful melodies. The song is set at a moderate tempo, and at 6 minutes, it’s long. However, the song does not drag. It has motion, and the narrative is engaging. Many people consider this the best on the album, and for me, it’s definitely a highlight.
10. The Mariner’s Revenge Song – 10/10 I love this song. It’s over the top, loud, engaging, and extremely interesting. At 8:45, it’s long. LONG. But every note of it builds up a narrative, conveys emotion, and makes it seem like the audio to a play. The story is the most fleshed out of the entire album. It starts with two mariners in the belly of a whale, and one relates to the other how their histories are connected. The other mariner married his widowed mother, swindled her, left the family destitute. His mother dies, telling him to take revenge. Years later, the narrator gets a job at a priory, where he learns that the man is now a captain with privateers after him. He joins a privateer to hunt him down, and when he finds him, a whale comes up and destroys their boats. Here the two men find themselves together, and the story ends with the narrator declaring his mother’s last words at the man. The song is incredibly well written. It starts with an a minor chord on the accordion, setting a dark scene. Then the song builds slowly, the instruments coming together for mood underneath Meloy’s vocals. The best examples of how the music adds to the story come from the bridge, which comes during the narrator’s voyage with the privateer, and the cacophony of screams and chaos as the whale attacks.
11. Of Angels and Angles – 11/10 A quiet acoustic closer to the album. The lyrics seem to recall “We Both Go Down Together” – two lovers are drowning. The lyrics aren’t explicit about anything; this makes the song sound pleasant instead of haunting. The composition is based around arpeggio-esque patterns that flow up the strings as Meloy sings. It would give a haunting affect if it didn’t sound so calm and pleasant. It’s another favorite, and it’s an excellent end to the album.
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