Title: A Sea-Shanty Neutral Milk Hotel
Product review: Portland's The Decemberists are a sea-shanty Neutral Milk Hotel. Release number two Her Majesty, the Decemberists even begins with "Shanty for the Arethusa", a pillagers seafaring riposte. The brainchild of Colin Meloy, this multi-instrumental quintet shuffles from subject to subject with all the juice of explorers of the New World. And though many of the tracks have the feel of rediscovered traditional songs, the material can be decidedly modern. "Billy Liar" tells the tale of a masturbating voyeur. "Los Angeles, I'm Yours" compares America's most modern city first to an oligarchy and then to garbled vomit! "Song for Myla Goldberg" is a paean to the modern author. If they sound a mite ostentatious, they are, yet the music is rooted with sweet acoustics, and Meloy approaches his material with a wry eye and wickedly subtle sense of humor.
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