The Decemberists are back after a six-year hiatus!
The band’s new album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be, drops June 14 via YABB Records (Thirty Tigers) and it sounds like an impressive project. Not only is it a double album, but it was produced by lead singer Colin Meloy and Tucker Martine. REM’s Mike Mills and The Shins’ James Mercer are also featured on the record, which has me pretty stoked to hear it.
The Decemberists celebrated the news by letting fans hear the 13th and final track on As It Ever Was, So It Will Be. “Joan in the Garden” is the album’s last song and it’s a 19-minute one.
“‘Joan in the Garden’ has been kicking around as an idea since the ‘I’ll Be Your Girl’ sessions. I got into a Joan of Arc kick after reading Lydia Yuknavitch’s beautifully batsh*t novel ‘The Book of Joan,’ Meloy says of the song. “I wanted to make my own version of Joan — but the song that came was as much about the creative process as it was about the actual woman, about angelic visitation and creative visitation and the hallucinogenic quality of both.”
Last month, the band released the album’s opening track titled “Burial Ground.” Dare I say if you’re a big fan of The Decemberists, you will love this opening song.
You can hear this new music when The Decemberists go on tour in late April. They’ve got a long list of tour dates including a May 24 stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Tickets are on sale here.
Pre-order As It Ever Was, So It Will Be here.
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again Track Listing:
- Burial Ground
- Oh No!
- The Reapers
- Long White Veil
- William Fitzwilliam
- Don’t Go to the Woods
- The Black Maria.
- All I Want Is You
- Born to the Morning
- America Made Me
- Tell Me What’s on Your Mind
- Never Satisfied
- Joan in the Garden
