The Decemberists - What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World 

It took 20 years after his death for Kurt Cobain to get his own day in Seattle, but Portland’s The Decemberists have already bagged their own feast day, complete with a mayoral reception, in time for the release of their seventh album.  
Through a combination of stealth, persistence and bloody-mindedness, the indie folk outfit are now loudly knocking on the mainstream door, having acquired Grammy nominations and a global cult appeal. Frontman Colin Meloy talks directly to us on the opening track ‘The Singer Addresses His Audience’. “We know we belong to you,” Meloy rasps. “We know you’ve built your lives around us.”
On ‘12-17-12’, Meloy deals with another much sadder and tragic address: when President Obama’s spoke to the nation following the Sandy Hook school massacre. Meloy has never been afraid to tackle grisly and horrific subject matter: ‘The Shankill Butchers’ from some years back is a perfect example. 
As the Byrds-ian ‘Make You Better’ confirms, his band perform rustic indie folk better than most. After years of greatness, The Decemberists seem ready to achieve world domination on their own terms.