i am the heart that you call home

A discovery thanks to a friend, and the Decemberists have been lurking in my playlists ever since. How can they not? I cannot think of any who surpasses them as masters of wistful poetic yearning that somehow manages to be both theatrically exuberant yet melancholically autumnal at the same time. An American ' indie band', Colin Meloy leads a motly crew of five, and that coyingly mysterious vocalist you hear echoing in the background is Jenny Conlee who plays the accordion too. Together, they fashion a sound that evokes an unforgettable world of victorian swashbuckling adventures and ladies and eye patched pirates. With an exception. The protaganist is a simple travelling minstrel, not a high and honourable hero everyone so loves.

" The Engine Driver" rises to the occasion of driving passionate heartbreak I have never heard finer done before. Starting with a few simple strums that widens, growing more beautiful as the song progresses, and swelling to a blooming crest about a minute and a half in. Wait for that bit when the xylophones come twinkling in, and that is the sound of a searing heart that at once recognizes it's imploring her to let it go, because he realizes he cant do the same thing he asks.

The Decemberists - The Engine Driver

a link to their site, if only to vist a fine place where the design reflects The Decemberist's sound:

get their latest album picaresque too, available at most good ( and maybe not so good) music retail shops out there! And listen to " The Mariner's Revenge Song".