As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

The first dozen songs are punchy, pithy gems all, reflections on mortality and loneliness, longing and cynicism, expectation and unease. The band animates them brilliantly, pushing out and pulling in at the perfect moments. John Moen practically dances beneath the jangle of opener "Burial Ground," breathing the life into this song about spiraling toward the end. From the irrepressible "Oh No!" and guileless tenderness and absolute surrender of "All I Want Is You," to the romantic ghost story that shimmers behind pedal steel in spite of the specter in "Long White Veil," these 12 songs alone would constitute a dazzling Decemberists album, rich with woe and love, anxiety and honesty. But a keening little choir and arid electric guitar invoke "Joan in the Garden," the band's first full-on prog escapade since The Crane Wife. Though rooted in doubt, much like the album it ends, "Joan in the Garden" ultimately lands as a celebration of music's ability to convey valence and ambiguity, to frame an endlessly complicated story in instantly compelling terms.
This, songwriter Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists album and perhaps the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. In many ways, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again feels like an aptly titled renewal for The Decemberists. The first full-length release on YABB Records, the band's own label, after a run of nearly two decades with Capitol. As they were once, here are the Decemberists again, now an independent band empowered by singing stories that sound instantly familiar and convey some bit of hard-won wisdom.