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Tune in to the XPN Morning Show each Monday to hear, Host, Mike Vasilikos, review XPN's Featured Album of the Week. This week's album is....

The Decemberists - Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars)

The Decemberists are a five piece band from Portland, Oregon and are fronted by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy. They take their name from the early 19th century secret society of Russian insurrectionists that led the revolution against the czars.

The Decemberists don’t fit the clichés of standard pop/rock songwriting. They write melodic pop songs with complex, highly literate story lines and characters, and their songs swirl with emotion and high drama. For touchstones, The Decemberists are equal parts Robyn Hitchock, Morrissey, The Pogues, Charles Dickens and Herman Melville, Billy Bragg, and the Bee Gees’ “New York Mining Disaster” – complete with jangly acoustic guitars, dramatic orchestral arrangements, accordions, sweet violins and memorable melodies.

With each new record, The Decemberists continue to mature as songwriters. Songs like “The Engine Driver,” “We Both Go Down Together,” “16 Military Wives,” and the brilliant sea shanty “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” are perfect snapshots of a band on the brink of reaching a wider audience. Picaresque is the band’s moment in the sun – and it hints at the greatness ahead of them.

Written by Bruce Warren

Release Date: 3/22/2005

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