West coast balladeers the Decemberists continue to occupy a strange musical terrain that no-one else seems remotely inclined to encroach upon. Their unique blend of beautifully catchy acoustic pop and wilfully archaic subject matter has served them well for six years, and latest album 'The Crane Wife' doesn't betray any radical shift in direction.
'O Valencia!' is a pleasant but unremarkable four-minute rollick, its bustling pace tricksily at odds with lyricist Colin Meloy's Romeo & Juliet-inspired tale of rival gangs and star-crossed lovers. It's perfectly listenable but unlikely to win them droves of new converts.
Of the b-sides, 'After the Bombs' is a gloomy piano-led lament that culminates in a Procul Harumesque hammond organ solo, while 'Culling of the Folds' is a disconcertingly animated polka in which we're invited to 'cut him up, boys'. It's rather like listening to Radiohead's 'Knives Out' reinterpreted as a 16th-century English jig.
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There isn't really a yardstick to judge a band so idiosyncratic other than what they've already achieved - and by that standard I'm afraid 'O Valencia!' doesn't quite measure up.
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