Decemberists Copy Black Mountain

When it came to writing The Decemberists' fifth album, the dark rock opera The Hazards Of Love, frontman Colin Meloy tried to copy the "mossy, evil music" of Vancouver's Black Mountain.

"I love Black Mountain," he says. "They're obviously a pretty strict homage to '70s riff metal, but I think there's a lot of mysticism and they really do a good job of bringing back that magical mysticism that was in so much of that music.

"I really wanted to try to imbue this record with that sort of vibe."

Fittingly, The Hazards Of Love is rife with thick Black Mountain-esque stoner rock and prog-folk. The album tells the mystical tale of Margaret, who sets off into the forest to find the shape-shifting animal that ravaged and impregnated her. She's confronted on her journeys by a jealous forest queen and a lascivious rake. (Yes, The Decemberists still have their heads buried in books.)

While Hazards was inspired by 16th century traditionals and folk songs of the '60s British folk revival (the album shares its title with Anne Briggs' 1966 debut EP), Meloy has also embraced the 21st century. The spectacled frontman regularly Tweets and has close to 80,000 followers on Twitter.

I wonder how many of said followers took part in his "Critical Mass e-Mooning" that he posted on March 23. He Tweeted the "call to arms" after Pitchfork writer Marc Hogan gave the new Decemberists album 5.7 out of 10.

Although Meloy has a reputation for being quite the wordsmith, the internet's bastardization of the English language doesn't really bother him too much.

"I do the same stuff — a lot of bad punctuation and lack of capitalization and things like that," he admits. "Writing online [and] writing in emails is a thing unto itself. I think grammar is definitely forgiven.

"I think it's just funny trying to reconcile decent grammar with internet language usage."

The Decemberists will hit the road in May for their A Short Fazed Hovel tour where they'll play two sets consisting of the hour-long Hazards performed in its entirety and a selection of older material.

The Portland, Ore. quintet have only one Canadian date booked so far, but phase two of their tour is expected to be announced shortly.

Here are The Decemberists' tour dates:

May 19 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium w/Other Lives
May 20 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater w/Other Lives
May 21 Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre w/Other Lives
May 23 Quincy, WA @ The Gorge Amphitheatre (Sasquatch! Festival)
May 24 Missoula, MT @ Wilma Theatre w/Blind Pilot
May 26 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium w/Blind Pilot
May 27 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre w/Blind Pilot
May 29 Milwaukee, WI @ Riverside Theatre w/Blind Pilot
May 31 St. Louis, MI @ The Pageant w/Blind Pilot
June 1 Columbus, OH @ Lifestyles Community Pavillion w/Blind Pilot
June 3 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle w/Blind Pilot
June 4 Raleigh, NC @ Raleigh Memorial Auditorium w/Blind Pilot
June 5 Richmond, VA @ The National w/Blind Pilot
June 6 Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre
June 8 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion w/Andrew Bird
June 9 Boston, MA @ Bank Of America Pavilion
June 10 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
June 11-14 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
July 18-19 Portland, OR @ Edgefield Winery w/Andrew Bird and Blind Pilot
Aug. 2 Montreal, QC @ Parc Jean-Drapeau (Osheaga Music & Arts Festival)