In two weeks, I'll be leaving with my boyfriend for Atlanta on a seven-hour drive. We'll be seeing The Decemberists play at the Coca-Cola Roxy on Sunday the 15th.
I was introduced to The Decemberists in 2005 by a friend named Samantha (who's now a hairstylist). It was during the days of AOL Instant Messenger, and she sent me "The Mariner's Revenge Song" as an .mp3 -- swiftly followed by "Odalisque". I was instantly smitten.
Their 2011 Americana-folk album The King is Dead (and subsequent B-side album Long Live The King) got me through a nasty breakup with an abusive ex, and I am forever thankful to this band, though they have no idea who I am or what their music has done for me. The first time I saw them in 2015, it was like a religious experience. I wept a little. There was also a giant whale.
I was a little mixed in my feelings for their 2014 album What A Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, but their 2017 collaboration with Olivia Chaney (Offa Rex) sent chills down my spine -- in a good way. Their newest, I'll Be Your Girl, has me reeling in a sea of goosebumps and silent elation with shouts of glee encapsulated behind lips when I have to be relatively quiet at work. (I've got a turntable in my office, and I spin vinyl from Coltrane to Colin Meloy to Simon and Garfunkel.) I can't stop listening to "Rusalka, Rusalka / The Wild Rushes", and I'm incredibly stoked to see them live again in April.
Here's to Atlanta. Here's to road-tripping. Here's to The Decemberists.
