I might be a wanna be amateur music writer but middling the new Decemberists album seems so odd. It's a great group of songs that tell a dark end to a love story. The bands folk like roots get an overloaded and bombastic overhaul. What I like about what they are doing on this lp is that they are not trying to be something that they are not. In short it's honest and a good step forward. It's not just a collection of songs but a piece of music that you have to experience all in one sitting or in the hour it takes to play. Many other reviews lump it in with the progressive records and sounds of Jethro Tull, Fairport Convention and Genesis. To be fair it sounds nothing like any of those bands but I can see where someone might get confused.
I hope they perform the album in it's entirety on their current tour.