Album of the Week(7/11)

The Decemberists, Castaways and Cutouts
Review-9.4

It all started a few months ago. I was reading a review of the Decemberists album, Picaresque and it sounded interesting so I picked it up. I was pleasently surprised to find out that not only was it a good album, but it was goddamn awesome. I listened to the shit out of it for a while, then as I do with bands I like, I decided to go back in time and pick up earlier albums from them. So I purchased Her Majesty the Decemberists and also found that I liked that album, but not quite as much as Picaresque. So after spending some time with that, I decided to dig in and I purchased their first album, Castaways and Cutouts. I was initially turned off by it, and instead spent most of my time with Picaresque. But then one day, I decided to listen to Castaways and Cutouts straight through, no interruptions. Now I was pleasently surprised by the fact that not only was this a good album, I liked it even more than Picaresque. It actually became my favorite Decemberists album. I haven't stopped listening to it for about a month now. The last time a CD did this to me was back in October, with Rilo Kiley's exceptional The Execution of all Things.

Cut to today, and the Decemberists are my current favorite band. I've listened to Castaways and Cutouts almost every day on my way to work and it keeps getting better. It starts off strong with Leslie Anne Levine an then moves on to another great song, Here I Thought I was an Architect. Two extremely solid songs, that set the pace for the rest of the album. July, July is an enthusiastic song that stands apart from the rest of the CD. This album is pretty chilled out for the most part, with a couple of stronger, faster paced songs to break up the slower songs. Odalisque is a great song that has slow parts, but builds up well to a more intense, more lively song than anything else on the album. Overall this album is fantastic. I recommend that you get off your ass right now and go and buy this CD. Then buy a ticket to see the Decemberists on September 11th at the Fillmore and go with me to see them. It's going to be awesome.