The Decemberists Announce First Album in Six Years, Drop 19-Minute Song
The Decemberists have a new album on the way — and they’re dropping 19 minutes of it.
On Tuesday, the group released the 19-minute prog rock track “Joan in the Garden” as they announced the upcoming release of their ninth album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, on June 14. The project will be their first full-length LP since 2018’s I’ll Be Your Girl.
“‘Joan in the Garden’ has been kicking around as an idea since the ‘I’ll Be Your Girl’ sessions,” said Colin Meloy in a press release about the new track. “I got into a Joan of Arc kick after reading Lydia Yuknavitch’s beautifully batshit novel The Book of Joan.”
“I wanted to make my own version of Joan — but the song that came was as much about the creative process as it was about the actual woman, about angelic visitation and creative visitation and the hallucinogenic quality of both,” Meloy added.
“Joan in the Garden” is the closer for the upcoming 13-track LP, which also features songs such as “Don’t Go to the Woods,” “America Made Me,” and “Long White Veil.” (They dropped the single “Burial Ground” featuring the Shins’ James Mercer in February.) REM’s Mike Mills also appears on the album.
The album marks the group’s longest album to date and is considered a double-LP split into four thematic sides, according to a press release.
As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again Track List
1. “Burial Ground”
2. “Oh No!”
3. “The Reapers”
4. “Long White Veil”
5. “William Fitzwilliam”
6. “Don’t Go to the Woods”
7. “The Black Maria”
8. “All I Want Is You”
9. “Born to the Morning”
10. “America Made Me”
11. “Tell Me What’s on Your Mind”
12. “Never Satisfied ”
13. “Joan in the Garden”