If you hadn't noticed in these past few months I've been working here, I love letting readers know about NPR's First Listens. They always conveniently come out a couple weeks before an album's release, and, though you're stuck at a computer streaming, you can test-drive the music before committing to adding it to your iTunes.
So, personal musings aside, from now until it's release on January 18, NPR is streaming the entirety of The Decemberists' sixth album, The King is Dead. You can listen to it all in one go or select specific tracks on their website. Prepare to widen your eyeballs to size of dinner plates as the first track explodes with synchronized down strokes and forceful harmonica. Some things about The Decemberists never change: Colin Meloy's distinct vocals, the folk string accompaniments, the delicious harmonizing. This leaves room for a change in tone, which in The King is Dead is casually optimistic.
The soothing single "January Hymn" is also available above for stream above and download below. If only January felt that tranquil instead of a scramble to initiate resolutions!
UPDATE: A third trailer for the album has popped up, and the cinematography warrants reposting all three sneak peaks. Of course, sneak peaks are irrelevant with the whole album at your fingertips, but now you get to watch something too!
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