The Decemberists formed in Portland, Oregon, in 2000, and with their latest, have released nine full-length studio albums.
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again is the Portland, Oregon-based bandās ninth studio full-length, and their first in six years. āWeāve had a long arc of experimentation,ā says supporting guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, reflecting on how the album partially honors various mosaic fragments of the bandās past works, while also expanding on them in a wise, informed, and beautiful, if not subtle, progression. āAt the end of the day, thereās nothing wrong with going to a studio and making a record without a narrative. So, thereās no smoke and mirrors on this one.ā
On As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, Meloy and Funk, joined by bassist Nate Query, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, and drummer John Moen, revisit the country twangs heard on The King Is Dead(2011), with āLong White Veilā and āAll I Want Is Youā; and even traipse back into the more worldly folk realm heard on Picaresque (2005) with the playful, chiming āBurial Groundā and folk-tango āOh No!ā Others, like the lo-fi electroacoustic, Grandaddy-esque āBorn to the Morning,ā build on elements from their previous release, 2018ās Iāll Be Your Girlāa record thatās pleasantly peppered with synths extracted straight from the Twin Peaks-, a-ha-, Tears for Fears-era of composition, and lyrics that could have been written by Moz himself. (āOh, unabashedly,ā says Meloy, moments after he recognizes the copy of the Smithsā Hatful of Hollow seen mounted on the wall behind me on our Zoom call.)
āAt the end of the day, thereās nothing wrong with going to a studio and making a record without a narrative. So, thereās no smoke and mirrors on this one.ā āChris Funk
The album concludes with āJoan in the Garden,ā a 19-minute suite inspired by the story of Joan of Arc, which shamelessly hijacks the previous 49 minutes of rhapsodic folk songs with a summoning of Pink Floyd long-form-composition aesthetic, Ć la āEchoes,ā āSheep,ā and āDogs.ā Sixteen minutes in, the spirit of Judas Priest rears its head with a muscular metal gallop that carries the track to a sudden and satisfying halt.
On As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again,the Decemberists subtly call back to some past markers in their evolution, while still growing in their multifaceted traditional-, pop-, and prog-folk palette.
Itās been 18 years since the Decemberistsā The Crane Wife(2006), whose second track, āThe Island,ā rises with Keith Emerson-style synth towards the end of its 12-minute wayfaring, and 15 years since The Hazards of Love (2009), a crowning folk-rock opera in their overall discography. Yet, fans likely havenāt forgotten those earlier bold (and somewhat left-field) infusions of ā70s-prog dialect, and may welcome As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Againās final, albeit extended, punctuation. What may come as a surprise, however, is that Meloy finds āa lot of prog to be sort of unlistenable.
āBut,ā he continues, āI have a weird kind of intellectual love for it. Being an ardent music fan, I can say I donāt really love Bob Dylan that much, for example, but I know everything about his career. I own so many records of his. There are certain people that, even if you donāt adore them or they donāt speak to your inner heart, you know how important they are, and you can see their contribution.ā
Intersecting with that perspective is the fun fact that Meloy studied English, theater, and creative writing in college, and has a separate career as a childrenās book author, with seven published works. ā[Stories are] where my heart is, and thatās what drew me to people like the Pogues, Robyn Hitchcock, the Smiths. Thereās a story being told, one way or another, in any of their songs,ā he shares. āProg also really lends itself to telling a longer story, a more sophisticated story. It kind of started with āCalifornia Oneā on our first record, which is toying with these sort of longer-form suite songs, which can be owed to āScenes from an Italian Restaurantā by Billy Joel as much as anything Genesis did with Peter Gabriel. But I also think it was an opportunity to set ourselves apart from how we were being perceived [in the beginning].ā
The Decemberists, from left to right: drummer John Moen, frontman Colin Meloy, guitarist/multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, and bassist Nate Query.
Photo by Holly Andres
Speaking of setting themselves apart, Funk says that when the band was coming up in the early ā00s, they were one of the first in the indie-folk-rock scene to bring a broader array of folk instruments into their mostly ārock bandā arrangements. Starting with their 2002 debut Castaways and Cutouts, the multi-instrumentalist has recorded a variety of stringed instruments on Decemberists albums aside from standard guitars, including dobro, pedal steel, lap steel, bouzouki, banjo, tenor guitar, baritone guitar, and mandolin. Funk has also contributed performances on other odds and ends, such as theremin, hammered dulcimer, Marxophone (a hammered, fretless zither), hurdy-gurdy, and synths.
āAt the time when we signed to Kill Rock Stars [in 2003] and I moved to the Pacific Northwest,ā says Funk, āthere werenāt really rock bands with accordions [played in the Decemberists by Jenny Conlee] and pedal steels. And we really stuck out from our peer group. I think it was just wanting to expand our palette. Historically, thereās a lot of world-building in the Decemberists, so [I was thinking], what else could live inside that world? And then with the next record, how can we tear down that world and create something new?ā
āHistorically, thereās a lot of world-building in the Decemberists, so [I was thinking], what else could live inside that world?ā āChris Funk
That inspiration came in part from growing up listening to ā80s groups like R.E.M., whose guitarist Peter Buck first recorded mandolin on their sixth studio album, 1988ās Green. āI donāt even think I knew what a mandolin was when [I first heard it on R.E.M.ās songs],ā Funk shares. āThat was sort of our gateway into it.ā
āThereās also bands like Belle and Sebastian,ā Meloy adds. āItās just like, everybody grab whatever instrument you have laying around and letās give it a shot. There was a DIY [approach of], you donāt really have to be a virtuoso at this instrument to make songs with it. That was sort of the guiding principle, too.ā
Of course, accordion, pedal steel, lap steel, banjo, and the like are hardly uncommon in country and folk settings, but were in the evolving 2000s indie-folk scene, which was competing (and still is) with a hip-hop and pop zeitgeist for the ears of a youthful audience. Other indie artists like Neutral Milk Hotel and Sufjan Stevens were also a bit ahead of the Decemberists, with Neutral Milk Hotelās use of flugelhorn and musical saw on 1998ās In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, and Stevensā generously broad mixture of folk instruments on his 2000 debut A Sun Came. However, along with those bands, the Decemberists rose to more popular visibility and influence circa 2005.
Colin Meloy's Gear
Frontman Colin Meloy identifies more as a songwriter than a guitarist, and focuses on storytelling through his songs.
Photo by Tim Bugbee/tinnitus photography
Guitars
- Gibson J-200 Montana Gold
- Gibson J-45 True Vintage
- Goya nylon-string
- Andrew Mowry bouzouki
- Two Guild F-512 12-strings (one is tuned down a half step)
- Reverend Buckshot
- Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins
- Effects
- MXR Dyna Comp (modified with a 1980 CA3080E chip)
- ZVEX Box of Rock
- EHX Oceans 11
- Two Boss DD-3 Digital Delays
Amps
- Phoenix Audio DRS-Q4 MkII preamp (for acoustics)
- Carr Viceroy amp (for electrics)
- Orange OR50 head through a 2x12 cabinet (for electrics)
Strings & Picks
- DāAddario Light Acoustic (.012ā.053)
- DāAddario Medium Wound 3rd Electric (.011ā.049)
- Tortex .73 mm picks
- Golden Gate thumbpicks
ā¦
āCan you talk about your passion for guitar? Thatās to the both of you,ā I quiz Meloy and Funk halfway through the interview.
Meloy pauses, smiling. (At this point, heās already confessed that he identifies more as a songwriter than a guitarist.) āFunk, would you like to talk about your passion for guitar?ā he deflects, wryly.
āI think I was just saying I donāt have much left,ā laughs Funk. āItās just endless with electric guitar, with combinations of amps and pedals and the revival, or the beginnings of, boutique pedal building. I mean, itās kind of insane. Iāve kind of put a moratorium on buying pedals, but itās always fun just to see what people are building and that people are still pushing it. Iām not really attracted to people building 17-string guitars or anything like that, but Iām passionate about the possibilities of making the guitar sound less and less like a guitar.
āI religiously watch Rig Rundowns,ā he continues. āI literally watch them every night. Iām just fascinated with how people are doing stage setups. I love it. Iām really fascinated with all the metal players or the heavier players; it seems like everybodyās using Fractal systems now, but even thatās interesting to me. Iāll never do it. But I think thatās cool.ā
ā¦
Chris Funk's Gear
Multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk has contributed a wide variety of instruments to the Decemberistsā recordings over the years, and lately, has felt a bit more detached from the guitar. He still, however, obsessively watches Rig Rundowns.
Photo by Debi Del Grande
Guitars
- Weber Yellowstone Octave Mandolin
- Deering John Hartford Banjo
- Reverend Club King 290
- Gibson ES-390
- Gibson Chris Cornell Signature ES-335
- Eastwood Messenger
- Reverend Airwave 12-string
- Fylde Falstaff acoustic
- Epiphone Elitist ES-335
- Sho-Bud E9 pedal steel
Amp
- Supro 1695T Black Magick 1x12 combo (pedal steel)
- Two early Benson Monarch amps with Tall Bird reverbs
- Benson 1x12 cabs
Effects
For pedal steel:
- Boss FV-500 volume pedal
- Malekko Spring Chicken reverb
For electrics:
- Tuner
- Xotic AC Booster
- Keeley Dark Side
- Boss MT-2 Metal Zone
- Third Man Mantic Flex
- Boss SY-1 Guitar Synthesizer
- Strymon TimeLine
- Radial Twin-City ABY amp switcher
For acoustics:
- Fishman Aura Spectrum DI preamp
- Voodoo Lab Amp Selector
- Radial DIs
Modular Synth Rig:
- Busy Circuits Pamelaās Workout Master Clock
- Mutable Instruments Plaits
- Mutable Instruments Rings
- Knobula Poly Cinematic
- Strymon Magneto
- Instruo Arbhar
- Make Noise Rosie
Strings
- DāAddario Light Acoustic Guitar Strings (.012ā.053)
- DāAddario Medium Wound 3rd Electric Guitar Strings (.011ā.049)
Meloy and Funk were in their mid and late 20s, respectively, when they founded the Decemberists, and spent the following years of youthful adulthood developing a deeper friendship. When Meloy comments modestly on his guitar skills, Funk chimes in, āI think youāre undercutting your guitar playing. Colinās a really great guitar player.ā
āI learned a lot about guitar from Funk,ā Meloy obliges. āI feel like when I started the Decemberists, I was afraid of electric guitar to a certain degree, and was much more comfortable with acoustic guitar. Funk has sort of pushed me in the direction of experimenting with guitar tones and pedals and setups and stuff like that. [I have gone] in that direction a little bit ā¦ not necessarily kicking and screaming, but just like, so intimidated by it. [Heās helped me to] open up to some ideas and approaches I donāt think I wouldāve had before.ā
That appreciation is mutual, as Funk shares his own perspective on what theyāve learned from one another over the years: āColinās always been pretty bold with some ideas that one might not do when theyāve entered a period of recording their second record on a major labelāmaking Hazards of Love, which is a 45-minute folk-rock opera, if you will. So my takeaway is that the art comes first and itās not always trying to find a singleāitās just being brave, to write from the heart.ā
YouTube It
With Meloy on a Guild 12-string and Funk on a Reverend semi-hollowbody, the Decemberists rock their way through their 12-minute narrative folk-prog composition āThe Island,ā from 2006ās The Crane Wife.
