The Decemberists Set To Perform At The Anthem On May 10th

By Jason Herman / April 12, 2024

The Decemberists (Photo Credit: Holly Andres)

The Decemberists last performed at The Anthem in Washington, DC, on April 21st, 2018, supporting their last album, I'll Be Your Girl.

Released on June 14, 2024

After a six-year hiatus, the band announced they recorded their ninth studio album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, and will tour again, including a stop at The Anthem on May 10th.

As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is not only the longest Decemberists album to date, but also their most empathetic and accessible. Its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hopes. The album is their first intentional, proper double-LP - split into four thematic sides, no less. This, their guitarist and vocalist Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists album—perhaps even the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again rings with the urgency and ardor of right now, maybe more than ever.

As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again (Released on June 14, 2024)

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, The Decemberists are a band that can transport you to another era with their rich storytelling and eclectic musical style. This quintet is comprised of Colin Meloy (vocals/guitar), Chris Funk (guitar/multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (accordion/keys), Nate Query (bass), and John Moen (drums), and are known for their distinctive creative niche indie folk, rock, and baroque pop elements.

One of the defining features of The Decemberists' music is their penchant for incorporating unconventional instruments like accordion, violin, and other woodwind instruments into the musical fabric of their songs. This distinct sound, combined with Meloy's distinctive voice and penchant for storytelling, creates a sonic experience that feels both nostalgic and innovative. Their previous eight albums contained themes of love, loss, adventure, and the passage of time frequently populate their songs, evoking a sense of nostalgia and romanticism.

If you loved songs from The Decemberists catalog, you will be gobsmacked by the creative beauty of their upcoming album. In March, The Decemberists released an upbeat and paradoxical "Burial Ground." This song contrasts buoyant music with the imagery of hanging out in a graveyard. John Moen practically dances beneath the jangle of this song, breathing life into a song about spiraling toward the end. Listen for yourself when we say that "Burial Ground" is a catchy and earworm-worthy song.

Then again in April, the band released a monstrous nineteen-minute "Joan in the Garden." This song is the band's first full-on prog escapade since "Hazards of Love" and their longest song yet. Inspired by Joan of Arc's hallucinatory visitation by angels, as depicted in Jules Bastien-Lepage's famed oversized painting, the song both documents that scene and wonders aloud how to capture faithfully something so profound as revelation, how to harness the divine in something so simple as a song, no matter how many twists and turns it takes across nineteen minutes. With funereal bells and church organ, scrambled samples and Odyssean synthesizers, plus a bassline so propulsive that Nate Query studied Iron Maiden videos in the studio. One can only imagine if this larger-than-life masterpiece will be performed at The Anthem this coming May.

With these two songs emerging from their upcoming album, we are looking forward to what is set to be an incredible night of music at The Anthem on May 10th. This performance will be supported by Chicago indie-rock band The Ratboys.

(Article Lead Photo: Holly Andres)

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The Decemberists