Calling Card
How is "O Valencia!" like the Decemberists? Let us count the ways:(1) It uses a centuries-old story structure.(2) It tells a tale of two ill-fated lovers.(3) It's darn catchy.(4) It sounds like mod...
Music
According to Colin Meloy, "Pop music has always adopted the style of marrying upbeat melodies to dour lyrics. But I think there's less irony [on The Crane Wife] than the previous records; it's mor...
Songwriting
With all the air-glockenspiel that goes on when you're rocking out to "O Valencia!" you probably aren't paying much attention to the verb tenses of the lyrics. But when you take a closer look at th...