Very early in their tour for the 2011 release The King Is Dead, The Decemberists recorded this seven-track EP during a live in-store appearance at Bull Moose music store in Scarborough, Maine, a suburb of what frontman Colin Meloy calls “the other Portland.” A vinyl or CD Record Store Day release, it’s a charming, compact souvenir of a concert tour that lasted eight months before winding up, at the end of August, in their hometown on the other side of the continent.
My favorite live music performance of 2009 was by The Decemberists during their Hazards of Love tour. After the rocked-up bombast of that album and concert, The King Is Dead brought things down to earth with a rootsy, Americana-flavored album and tour. This EP captures some of the highlights in a live setting.
It opens with the first single, “Down By The Water,” followed by the extremely catchy “Rox In The Box.” Then things take a quieter, more contemplative turn with the minimalist “This Is Why We Fight,” the sunny folk of “June Hymn” and the anthemic acoustic “Rise To Me.” After the up-tempo country of “All Arise!”, featuring Sara Watkins’ fiddle and backing vocals, things close out with a Watkins-Meloy duet on the Louvin Brothers’ classic, “If I Could Only Win Your Love.”
The recording shows The Decemberists’ strengths as a road band, by turns muscular and sensitive, and drawing energy from the enthusiastic, up-close crowd. The recording quality is quite good, capitalizing on the store’s narrow layout and low ceilings. Completists will appreciate this, and even for the casual fan, it’s a good taste of what this excellent band sounds like outside the studio.
(Capitol, 2011)
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