The Decemberists' debut album showcases the old-fashioned storytelling, catchy pop melodies, and extensive vocabulary the band has become known for.
The band builds on the promise of their first album and delivers another record of solid indie-pop.
Possibly the most fully realized and certainly the most musically dense of the Decemberists' first three albums, Picaresque is still a fan favorite.
The album "O Valencia!" appears on is the first that the band recorded and released on a major-label budget. The album includes two tracks that clock in at more than 12 minutes.
First conceived as a musical that was later abandoned, The Hazards of Love is a very ambitious record that tells a complicated, fairy-tale-like love story.
After getting all that complicated storytelling out of their system, the Decemberists team up with folk favorite Gillian Welch to produce what is probably the most lyrically straightforward album in their discography.