\n\tIn a 2022 interview with Publishers Weekly<\/em>, Colin Meloy<\/a> talked about discovering author Stephen King in the sixth grade \u2014 writing that inspired his own work as a novelist of such young adult books as the Wildwood<\/em> and The Stars Did Wander Darkling<\/em>. Not counting the 33 1\/3 series book he wrote on The Replacements<\/a>\u2018 Let It Be<\/em> album in 2004, Meloy\u2019s literary career began in earnest in 2011, by which time he\u2019d already established himself as the Stephen King of indie rock.<\/p>\n \n\tAs the frontman and principal songwriter of The Decemberists<\/a>, Meloy is a prolific crafter of songs that are as lyrically rich as their music \u2014 contemporary issues expressed through ancient history and freighted with dark storylines and black humor. He doesn\u2019t write about vampires and killer dogs or cars \u2014 wicked mortals and the luckless are his fort\u00e9 \u2014 but like King\u2019s stories, Meloy\u2019s songs connect and captivate with authentic humanity, even when something sinister is afoot. He makes bad behavior sound <\/em>really good. <\/p>\n \n\tThat certainly holds true for The Decemberists\u2019 new double album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again <\/em>\u2014 the band\u2019s first release in six years, as well as the first on their own label, YABB \u2014 which drops June 14. Meloy says it\u2019s their best album, and he may be right. Certainly, it\u2019s their best double album \u2014 a fat-free collection of songs that, like Fleetwood Mac\u2019s Tusk, <\/em>takes creative and sonic chances and yet flows as cohesive, immensely enjoyable and often profound song cycle.<\/p>\n \n\tThe Portland, Ore. Band\u2019s last album, 2018\u2019s I\u2019ll Be Your Girl <\/em>was largely a provocative reaction to the 2016 presidential election, epitomized by the brilliant, searing single, \u2018Severed.\u201d But, as Meloy explains, singing those angry songs during the tour that followed left him exhausted. \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tAs It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again<\/em> is an irreverent musical revival of sorts \u2014 an attempt to muck out the political and cultural sludge we\u2019ve slogged through for close to 10 years now \u2014 perhaps so that we are prepared for a second dose. The jaunty gallows humor of the album\u2019s opener, \u201cBurial Ground\u201d sets the tone with Meloy singing, \u201cThis world\u2019s all wrong, so let\u2019s go where we belong. Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAs it does on so many Decemberists\u2019 albums, death looms, but on \u201cThe Reapers\u201d and \u201cThe Black Maria\u201d it\u2019s inevitable, not personal. \u00a0We are all doomed, Meloy seems to be saying, so why not really live<\/em> while we can. \u201cLong White Veil\u201d puts the listener to that test. It\u2019s a song about a woman who dies on her wedding night, with a pedal steel and guitar sound that dares you not to dance.<\/p>\n \n\tThe album closes with a stone-cold masterpiece, \u201cJoan in the Garden,\u201d which was sparked by Meloy\u2019s reading of The Book of Joan<\/em>, Lidia Yuknavitch\u2019s science-fiction riff on the story of Joan of Arc and his subsequent immersion in the history and lore of the martyr and early feminist. A prog-rock track with massive fuzzy guitars, bombastic drums, chimes and careening synths, \u201cJoan in the Garden\u201d clocks in at more than 19 minutes and includes an instrumental interlude that sounds like supernal electricity punctuated by muffled voices and the THX audio company\u2019s sonic logo. (Could that also be a nod to OMD\u2019s \u201cJoan of Arc\u201d at the song\u2019s beginning?) <\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a cathartic, carburetor-clearing banger that brings the album full circle. The last lines of the song\u2019s last verse serve as the album\u2019s title, and a mantra that, in light of these times, could be inspirational or delusional: \u201cAs it ever was, so it will be again.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tThe title of the album reminds me of that Karl Marx quote, \u201cHistory repeats itself. First is tragedy, second is farce.\u201dThese days we seem to be living through a combination of the two. Any thoughts on that?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIs that Karl Marx or Groucho Marx? I\u2019m familiar with that quote. I didn\u2019t know that was Karl Marx. That was not on my mind. \u201cAs it ever was, so it will be again\u201d is the last line of \u201cJoan in the Garden,\u201d which is a triumphal moment, but I also think it\u2019s about returning and about permanence or how we perceive permanence. I think there\u2019s a lot of things to unpack at that.<\/p>\n \n\tI interpreted the cover art as a return in the way that nature returned during the pandemic.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThere is something about that. I think there is a return to nature, to simplicity \u2014 to a kind of idyllic world that exists in our imagination. And it\u2019s a little skewed. To go back isn\u2019t always the best way forward.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJoan in the Garden\u201d is an epic song. \u00a0Have you ever seen Dreyer\u2019s The Passion of Joan of Arc<\/a><\/em>?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI have.<\/p>\n \n\tThat song would make a great soundtrack to the movie.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\t\u201cJoan in the Garden\u201d came out of a weird period in my life. Starting in 2017, I became super fascinated with the story of Joan of Arc after reading Lidia Yuknavitch\u2019s The Book of Joan<\/em>, which recasts her story in this weird, bizarre, future world. After I read that I was like, \u201cWhat is the real story of Joan of Arc?\u201d So, I went back and read another novel. I read a biography, and I certainly watched that film. It\u2019s absolutely beautiful \u2014 all those close-ups of her [actress Ren\u00e9e Jeanne Falconetti].<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.billboard.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/The-Decemberists-As-It-Ever-Was-So-It-Will-Be-Again-cover-art-billboard-1548.jpg?w=1024\")