The Decemberists | Kind of Bleu

Kind of Bleu’s top albums of 2011, with links to each review in the countdown.

Honorable Mentions:
Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Stuart Duncan & Chris Thile – The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Dawes – Nothing Is Wrong
I’m From Barcelona – Forever Today
Panda Bear – Tomboy
My Morning Jacket – Circuital

20. Chris Thile & Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open

19. Fucked Up – David Comes to Life

18. Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What

17. Wild Flag – Wild Flag

16. Tom Waits – Bad as Me

15. The Head and the Heart – The Head and the Heart

14. James Blake – James Blake

13. The Mountain Goats – All Eternals Deck

12. Wilco – The Whole Love

11. Feist – Metals

10. Kurt Vile – Smoke Ring for My Halo

9. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. – It’s a Corporate World

8. Middle Brother – Middle Brother

7. Ryan Adams – Ashes & Fire

6. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

5. M83 – Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

4. The Antlers – Burst Apart

3. Destroyer – Kaputt

2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

1. Bon Iver – Bon Iver

Top 20 of 2011: 6. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

6. The Decemberists – The King Is Dead

The Decemberists are a great band, but their theatrics can be a bit much. The heavy narratives of their last few albums — the song cycles of The Crane Wife and the full-blown rock opera, The Hazards of Love — were impressive, but a bit inaccessible.

That’s why The King Is Dead was such a surprise. The band’s sixth album isn’t another session of indie-rock theater camp. It’s a straight-forward indie-folk album, featuring tons of traditional instrumentation — harmonica, accordion, banjo and bouzouki, to name a few — and guest stars like Gillian Welch, David Rawlings and R.E.M.’s Peter Buck.

Songwriter Colin Meloy still spins incredibly detailed yarns about the days of yore, but this time, he’s more like Elvis Costello than a playwright. Meloy published his first novel, Wildwood, this year, so it’s possible that he got his need for plot-driven media out a different way.

The King Is Dead is arguably the Decemberists’ finest work. Its unpretentious, upbeat folk is thoroughly enjoyable, even without a theater degree.