Picaresque
- The Decemberists
- Band Name: The Decemberists
- Record Label: Kill Rock Stars
- Release Date: Mar 22, 2005
- Critic Score
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100For fans of chiming, literate, lovelorn pop, Picaresque is an absolute treasure trove.
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100It's hard to imagine The Decemberists topping such a fantastic and ambitious record, but as their previous albums show, I'm sure they'll have no problem one-upping themselves again.
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[Meloy's] lyrics skip across history... and overflow with mellifluous rhymes. [25 Mar 2005, p.71]
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The group had a lot of hype to live up to and they nearly managed to do it. [#9]
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While Picaresque is a significant step forward, it’s also a logical one. The band’s sonic palette has expanded gradually from album to album, and appears to have come full circle here.
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90It’s amazing to see how the Decemberists have grown. The songs from their first EP, 5 Songs, seem like a man and an acoustic guitar, where Picaresque feels like a full blown orchestra.
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The more realized updates of [Her Majesty] that crowd out the backed of Picaresque reveal a wit so bizarre and vaudevillian beauty so ultimately endearing that by the end, Meloy's sprawling form of theatrical folk has us all. [Apr 2005, p.116]
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Picaresque features some of Meloy’s most assured songwriting... What makes Picaresque a great album, however, is the snug synthesis between the rest of the bandmates playing in relation to Meloy’s verbose lyrics.
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90This is The Decemberists' strongest release to date, and proves that the group's unique thesaurus-rock has a bright future.
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90"Picaresque" is by far the Decemberists' best work to date.
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90The effect is one of musical theater.
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84The tunes are almost more like short stage scenes than mere songs about people, but the band does well to prevent them from coming off as cheesy allegories so that even the illiterate boors out there can enjoy their downright pretty moments. [#15, p.101]
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83In developing into such a formidable flock, the Decemberists not only have far outstripped those ridiculous comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel that dogged Her Majesty, but have also allowed Meloy to widen his lyrical scope and hone his ambitious narratives.
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83Though [Meloy] rarely cracks a smile, he finds creativity in defeat. [Apr 2005, p.101]
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“I am a writer, writer of fictions,” Meloy claims on “Engine Driver,” and that’s exactly what he does, but it’s what everyone else does too, the only real difference being Meloy hits the thesaurus and maritime literature a bit harder than most.