The Decemberists

Australia and New Zealand will experience THE DECEMBERISTS’ unique brand of theatrical indie folk for the very first time at BIG DAY OUT 2010.

This Portland, Oregon five-piece have been crafting their baroque prog pop since the turn of the century, releasing five albums, winning a torrent of critical praise and doing battle with Stephen Colbert (YouTube it). A band of vagabonds led by singer/songwriter Colin Meloy – with guitarist Chris Funk, keyboardist Jenny Conlee, bassist Nate Query, and drummer John Moen – THE DECEMBERISTS finally reach our shores on the back of their latest album, The Hazards of Love.

Over the years, DECEMBERISTS devotees have been taken on quite the journey. They’ve swooned for the band’s “use of old-timey language on 2002’s Castaways and Cutouts,” said Spin Magazine, “embraced the nautical theme of the following year’s Her Majesty, and gleefully joined the drama club on indie farewell Picaresque.” On the band’s major label debut, 2006’s The Crane Wife, Meloy mixed in “a multi-part song cycle based on a Japanese folk tale for good measure”.

The Hazards of Love’s “grandiose narrative about star-crossed lovers William and Margaret – and the dastardly villains who beset them – has some nice twists,” says Pitchfork. At some special dates in the US this past year, THE DECEMBERISTS have played the album in full, from front to back. On BIG DAY OUT, they’ll take fans on a twisting, turning ride through their entire back catalogue.

Get a first taste of a fascinating and fanciful career when THE DECEMBERISTS tell their story at BIG DAY OUT this summer.