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It’s been a busy year for the Decemberists, who stirred some synth-pop into their folk-rock sound with this spring’s I’ll Be Your Girl and revived their Traveler’s Rest festival for a second year in Missoula, Montana in August. They’re not done yet, either: On December 14th, the Oregon group will close out 2018 with a new EP, Traveling On, made up of outtakes from the I’ll Be Your Girl sessions with producer John Congleton.
The five-song EP’s title track is available to hear now. With its sighing accordion and searching harmonies, “Traveling On” is a rewarding return to a more familiar Decemberists style. Lead singer Colin Meloy rhymes “boys in blazers” with “union labor,” mopes about having to “meet the new dauphin at the Louvre,” and generally seems to be imagining a weary indie-rock band’s tour schedule in fantastical, historically haywire terms. Also on the EP: a song called “Midlist Author,” which one can only hope is a somber mid-tempo retelling of the story from the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer.”
Traveling On Track List
1. “Down On The Knuckle”
2. “I Will Not Say Your Name”
3. “Tripping Along (Full Band Version)”
4. “Midlist Author”
5.“ Traveling On”
