Picaresque

metacritic

rollingstone

Opening with a parade, ending in a double suicide and climaxing with a murder in the belly of a whale, Picaresque is a triumph of theatrical imagination: the culmination of the Decemberists' steady march to greatness in four years of enriched storytelling and folk-rock invention. Singer-songwriter Colin Meloy has never been shy about the Morrissey […]

pitchfork

The Decemberists may have built their rep on historical backdrops and quaint theatricality, but their third full-length trades much of that in for more ambitious narratives and dynamic playing. Picaresque captures the band in peak form, packing in exotic instrumentation that creates a lush and evocative backdrop to Colin Meloy's story-songs, which here are more colorful-- and more topical-- than ever.