Being a musician, I spend my free time searching out new and interesting music. From that local band’s EP that they recorded in their grandmother’s basement, to the SoundCloud rapper who can’t find a word to rhyme with his very obscure name—there is always good, and there’s some of the obviously horrendous. That is why I choose to rip apart their hard work from behind a glass screen for the world to read.

This week I listened to the Decemberists new album, I’ll Be Your Girl.

The Good

I love to start with the good and this album has some great songs. ‘Cutting stone’ is very similar to the older sound we are used to from the Decemberists. The harsh lyrics create a strong painting of pain and suffering. This painting is offset by the beautiful sounds of the title track ‘I’ll be your girl’. The bouncing baseline and twirling duet remind me of a lost Beatles track that the world has yet to hear.

Every time I listen to a new album I try and listen to it four times. Each time I heard ‘I’ll Be Your Girl’ I found something new to love. Similar to the Beatles sound is the song ‘Sucker’s Prayer’. This bluesy mix of instruments is very different for the Decemberists, but they pull off this sound perfectly. I instantly began to move with the music and found myself locked in the rhythm.

Yet, the most different thing about this album is the song ‘Rusalka, Rusalka/Wild Rushes’. This eight minute masterpiece is an acid trip from mars and I am very convinced they recorded this song is a room four miles wide.

The Bad

A lot of this album falls into the bad category. It sounded like the band bought a new cool toy and wanted to put it on every song, whether it fit or not (I put that s*** on everything). This leads to songs like ‘Severed’ or ‘Starwatcher’ being extremely forgettable because the background is too busy, and ‘Your Ghost’ or ‘We All Die Young’ being so different that they don’t even fit the overall sound of the album. They feel like lost children on the street with nowhere to be, and nowhere to go.

I think that the Decemberists had the right idea, just the wrong execution. A band that stays the same dies. Everyone should strive to change and be interesting. Just jump all the way in. Be different. Be fun. Be interesting. In the immortal words of Ron Swanson, ‘Don’t half ass two things, whole ass one’. The constant shifting sound threw me off and ultimately stopped me from loving this album. Overall I gave this album a 6.89 after rating the individual songs and averaging them together. I encourage you to listen to it and make your own opinion, because this has just been my terrible opinion.