Montana-born Colin Meloy fronts the Decemberists, whose theatrical and hyper-literate pop compositions owe much to late-1960s British folk ensembles such as Fairport Convention and Pentangle as well as the sweeping early-1980s college-rock sweep of the Waterboys and R.E.M. The group surfaced in 2001, steadily gaining traction during the following years through well-received releases including The Crane Wife and Hazards of Love before achieving broader commercial reach with their sixth album, the gold-certified The King Is Dead. That record ascended to the top of the Billboard 200, prompting a short hiatus. Returning in 2015, the band delivered the buoyant What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World, then continued with 2017’s Queen of Hearts (a project shared with English folk artist Olivia Chaney), 2018’s synth-pop-inflected I’ll Be Your Girl, and the 2024 progressive-leaning double album As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again.
Founding members alongside Meloy comprised drummer Ezra Holbrook, bassist Nate Query, keyboardist and accordionist Jenny Conlee, and multi-instrumentalist Chris Funk. Before establishing the Decemberists, Meloy had spent time in an alternative-country outfit; he later relocated to Portland, Oregon, to focus on songwriting, a decision that directly precipitated the band’s creation. Drawing on his creative-writing background, he fashioned lyrics rich in literary detail and set them to an expansive pop palette that embraced influences ranging from Sandy Denny to Morrissey.
Prior to the 2002 release of their debut album on Hush Records, the Decemberists issued a five-track EP that helped cultivate an early following. Castaways and Cutouts was reissued the same year on Kill Rock Stars, allowing the group to build a dedicated audience. With organist and keyboardist Rachel Blumberg added, they released Her Majesty in 2003, another set of dramatic indie pop marked by pastoral overtones that strengthened their reputation. The following year brought the five-part epic EP The Tain, drawn from the eighth-century Irish poem of the same title, and Picaresque arrived in 2005.
By then the lineup had settled around Meloy, Conlee, Query, Funk, and drummer John Moen; the band stepped up to major-label status with a Capitol Records deal ahead of 2006’s The Crane Wife, which reached number 35 on the Billboard 200. The album also drew notice from comedian and satirist Stephen Colbert, who engaged Funk in a guitar-solo contest on a live episode of The Colbert Report. For their next undertaking the Decemberists embraced one of Meloy’s boldest concepts yet, a full-scale rock opera. Hazards of Love appeared in 2009, unfolding a fantasy narrative that included guest contributions from My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark, and My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden.
In January 2011 the Decemberists unexpectedly claimed the top chart position with the concise, rustic country-pop collection The King Is Dead, which featured appearances by Peter Buck and Gillian Welch; later that year they followed with the outtakes EP Long Live the King. Once touring for the album concluded, the band entered hiatus yet still issued the double live set We All Raise Our Voices to the Air in 2012.
Emerging from the break, the group played several live shows in 2014 and began recording its seventh studio album, What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World. The record arrived in January 2015, supported by a three-month trek across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States. In September the band released the EP Florasongs, drawn from those same sessions. They next joined U.K. singer and songwriter Olivia Chaney to form Offa Rex, resulting in the 2017 album The Queen of Hearts. The following year the Decemberists reconvened for their eighth studio effort, I’ll Be Your Girl, enlisting producer John Congleton for a more synth-driven sound; the album debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200 in March and was followed in December by the outtakes EP Traveling On.
A six-year interval preceded the ninth album, the double LP As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again. Released in 2024 and co-produced by Tucker Martine and Colin Meloy, the set stands as the band’s longest to date, highlighted by the nineteen-minute progressive-rock centerpiece “Joan in the Garden” and guest appearances from the Shins’ James Mercer and R.E.M.’s Mike Mills.
