The Crane Wife

Today is "Crane Wife" day...the official debut of the new Decemberists album, "The Crane Wife". The album has been available for a couple months in various leaked forms on the internet, so I have been enjoying it for a while now (of course I am going to buy the official version now that it is released). Overall, the album is very good, not quite as accessible as their previous album, "Picaresque" but all in all, an impressive major label debut. Lyrically, "The Crane Wife" is classic Decemberists, with songs featuring rape ("The Island"), war ("When The War Came"), murder ("Shankhill Butchers"), and gang violence ("O Valencia!"). History and literature buffs won't be disappointed, as the album features songs based on Shakespeare, Japanese folk tales, the American Civil War, the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland, and the seige of Leningrad. Musically, the album ranges from ballads to something that almost sounds like certain Led Zeppelin.

And the lyrics themselves won't disappoint. If you know what all these words mean without looking any of them up (no cheating!) you are either a spelling bee champion, a complete nerd, or a member of the Decemberists:

curlews
arabesques
cormorants
patagon
parallax
caterwaul
solanum
asteraceae
askew
fontanelle
dirigible