![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.thelefortreport.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/The-Decemberists-Down-By-The-Water-Album-Art-600x600.jpg\" "\\"The-Decemberists-Down-By-The-Water-Album-Art\\"")
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One of our historically-favored indie bands, The Decemberists<\/strong>, has announced the release of their next record, “The King is Dead,” on January 18th.\u00a0 We hope it’s a vast improvement over their last record, “The Hazards of Love,” which bored us to tears (save a couple of songs) and went straight to the dustbin (said with that faux-British accent adopted on song by American bandleader, Colin Meloy).\u00a0 The title of the new record has fueled speculation that it’s an allusion\/homage to the great Smiths record, “The Queen is Dead.”\u00a0 We shall see, though it hasn’t hurt that Meloy has been covering Smiths songs live recently.<\/p>\n Down By The Water<\/strong><\/em> is the first sampling of the imminent record, and if it is any indication, “The King is Dead” could be a resounding return to regality.\u00a0 The great Gillian Welch<\/strong> meshes perfectly on the song, as does R.E.M.’s Peter Buck<\/strong> on 12 string.\u00a0 Sounding very R.E.M-ish (circa “Document”), we love the added harmonica and overtones.<\/p>\n We hope that “The King is Dead” brings the band back to its prior creative heights (like on “Picaresque”) and avoids the nadir of Hazards of Love.\u00a0 The track list for ‘The King is Dead’ is tentatively as follows:<\/p>\n 1. ‘Don’t Carry It All’
\n2. ‘Calamity Song’
\n3. ‘Rise to Me’
\n4. ‘Rox in the Box’
\n5. ‘January Hymn’
\n6. ‘Down by the Water’
\n7. ‘All Arise!’
\n8. ‘June Hymn’
\n9. ‘This Is Why We Fight’
\n10. ‘Dear Avery’<\/p>\n