The Decemberists – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again

Even at this stage of their career, where they can comfortably be described as veterans, Colin Meloy and co still have the power to enchant and inspire

It’s been a long time since we last heard from The Decemberists – six years, in fact – and you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d quietly settled into ‘indefinite hiatus’ status. Since their last, rather lacklustre, album I’ll Be Your Girl, was released, there’s been a global pandemic which has seen chief Decemberist Colin Meloy begin a new sideline in film, theatre and literary projects. Had we heard the last of the only band to make sea shanties seem cool?

Thankfully not. As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again may well be the Decemberists’ ninth album, but there’s a case to be made that it’s their finest to date. It’s their first double album, with four distinct phases, and ends on a wildly ambitious 20 minute song which is quite unlike anything they’ve ever done before.

The first four tracks make up the first ‘side’ of the record, and it feels like the songs are almost bursting with joy. The opening Burial Ground (featuring The Shins‘ James Mercer on vocals) may have some rather macabre lyrics (it ends with the line “contract malaria and meet at the burial ground”), but with a melody that’s a dead ringer for The Beach Boys‘ Sloop John B, it’s impossible not to sing along to.

Oh No feels like the Decemberists of old, a baroque slice of whimsy with a swinging brass arrangement to liven things up, while The Reapers has a more widescreen feel to it, with Jenny Conlee’s piano and some intricate woodwind powering the track along.

It sets the scene nicely for the next phase of the album, which is darker and more acoustic based. The beautiful folk ballad William Fitzgerald has a real ‘campfire’ feel to it, full of pedal steel and heartwarming harmonies. All I Want Is You is one of Meloy’s very best love songs, with clever lines like “all the United Nations couldn’t feed my sensations, half as well as how you do” while some mournful brass hums in the background.

The third phase of As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is possibly the least effective by comparison – it’s a lot more jaunty, and America Made Me is catchy if a bit repetitive and overlong – but Tell Me What’s On Your Mind has a lovely, wistful feel to it, while Never Satisfied is almost chest-beatingly epic, dominated by chiming guitars and weeping pedal steel.

This all leads up to the longest song that The Decemberists have ever recorded, that 20 minute long Joan In The Garden. It is, admittedly, rather too long, and teeters on the verge of self-indulgence at times, but it’s fascinating to hear how it ebbs and flows. It begins quietly, slowly building up until Meloy is singing “Hosanna yeah!”, then makes a detour into a very trippy, ambient mid-section before transforming into a big rock anthem for the home stretch – you may even hear R.E.M.‘s Mike Mills joining in if you listen carefully. As songs about Joan Of Arc’s hallucinations of angels, you won’t find many better.

It’s a typically ambitious way to end one of the Decemberists’ finest albums. Even at this stage of their career, where they can comfortably be described as veterans, Colin Meloy and company still have the power to enchant and inspire – As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, indeed.