In the frankly unlikely event of REM and Arcade Fire having a lovechild, chances are it would sound a lot like The Decemberists.
The American band — in town to promote seventh album What A Terrible World, What a Beautiful World — specialise in the kind of adult acoustic rock that produces great records rather than hit singles. At their heart is the burly and bearded Colin Meloy. He began Saturday’s Brixton show alone with The Singer Addresses His Audience, before being joined, one by one, by his bandmates.
It’s as a seven-strong unit that the band are at their best, however, as on the harmonica-gilded Down by the Water and REM-indebted Calamity Song.
Occasionally, Meloy was a little too lyrical for his own good. The clunky “Oh what a rush of ripe élan, languor on divans” on Los Angeles, I’m Yours was The Decemberists in a state of self-parody. Still, they know how to have fun. Hank, Eat Your Oatmeal — a lullaby to Meloy’s porridge-shunning son — was followed by tales of the “inordinately expensive chunks of liquorice” proffered by Brixton’s freelance drug vendors.
After the hushed beauty of Carolina Low, The Rake’s Song showcased The Decemberists’ rockier dimension. Yet it was the yearning A Beginning Song that gave this top-class gig its heart-bruised highlight. Masterly stuff from folk-rock’s best-kept secret.
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