''Picaresque'' is the third studio album from

The Decemberists The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2000. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion, backing vocals ...

. It was released in 2005 on the

Kill Rock Stars Kill Rock Stars is an independent record label founded in February 1991 by Slim Moon and Tinuviel Sampson, and based in both Olympia, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The label has released a variety of work in different genres, but it was orig ...

record label. The word "

picaresque The picaresque novel (Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrupt ...

" refers to a form of satirical prose originating in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, depicting realistically and often humorously the adventures of a low-born, roguish hero living by their wits in a corrupt society.

Recording

The album was recorded at the Prescott Church in

northeast Portland Northeast Portland is one of the six major divisions of Portland, Oregon. Northeast Portland contains a diverse collection of neighborhoods. For example, while Irvington and the Alameda Ridge feature some of the oldest and most expensive homes i ...

, which the band rented for one month in the summer of 2004. To facilitate the creative process and avoid creative block, band members filled a used bike helmet with slips of paper listing strategies and ideas to try out. Non-traditional rock instruments used in the album's recording included an accordion and a

hurdy-gurdy The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-turned crank, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin (or nyckelharpa) bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar ...

. The album was produced by

Chris Walla Christopher Ryan Walla (born November 2, 1975) is an American musician, record producer, and film music composer, best known for being a former guitarist and songwriter for the band Death Cab for Cutie. Musical career Early bands While at B ...

, also the guitarist for the band

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

Release

The album includes the track "

Sixteen Military Wives "Sixteen Military Wives", sometimes referred to as "16 by 32", is a single released by The Decemberists from their third album, '' Picaresque''. Track listing CD # "Sixteen Military Wives" # "The Kingdom of Spain" # "Sixteen Military Wives" (Vid ...

", the music video of which was distributed by the band via

BitTorrent BitTorrent is a Protocol (computing), communication protocol for peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P), which enables users to distribute data and electronic files over the Internet in a Decentralised system, decentralized manner. The protocol is d ...

. A double vinyl version was released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

that contained the album on the first three sides with an EP of outtakes named '' Picaresqueties'' on the fourth side. This EP was the band's final release for the Kill Rock Stars label. In

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, a single-disc vinyl version was released on Rough Trade without the ''Picaresqueties'' EP; the first six tracks appear on Side A, and the final five are on Side B. A limited edition tenth anniversary pressing of the album on red vinyl was released for Record Store Day 2015. It was formatted as three sides, with the tracks from the Picaresqueties EP as the fourth side. As of September 2006 it has sold 123,000 units in United States.

Reception

''Picaresque'' has a rating of 81/100 on Metacritic, indicating "universal acclaim". The album reached number 5 on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers chart, and number 128 on the ''Billboard'' 200. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' placed ''Picaresque'' at number 143 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.

Track listing

All songs written by

Colin Meloy Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band the Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acousti ...

Personnel

The Decemberists *

– lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

Chris Funk Christopher Funk (born November 28, 1971) is an American musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as a member of the Portland, Oregon, indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays guitar, pedal steel, piano, violin, dobro, hurdy-gurdy, mandol ...

– lead guitar, steel guitar, backing vocals *

Jenny Conlee Jennifer Lynn Conlee-Drizos (born December 12, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the accordionist, pianist, organist, keyboardist, melodica player, and occasional backup singer and harmonica, harmonicist for the indie rock quintet The D ...

– keyboards, accordion, backing vocals *

Nate Query Nate Query (born September 5, 1973) is an American musician best known as the bassist of the Portland, Oregon indie rock band The Decemberists. He plays electric bass, upright bass, banjo and cello. He makes appearances on many albums by Portland ...

– bass, backing vocals * Rachel Blumberg – drums, backing vocals Additional musicians *

Petra Haden Petra Haden (born October 11, 1971) is an American musician and singer. She is the daughter of the jazz bassist Charlie Haden and Ellen David, and is the triplet sister of bassist Rachel Haden (her bandmate in that dog.) and cellist Tanya Ha ...

– violin, backing vocals *

– electric guitar * Paul Brainard – trumpet * Tom Hill – trombone * Joe Cunningham – saxophone * Aaron Stewart – tam-tam * Jeff London –

shofar A shofar ( ; from , ) is an ancient musical horn, typically a ram's horn, used for Jewish ritual purposes. Like the modern bugle, the shofar lacks pitch-altering devices, with all pitch control done by varying the player's embouchure. The ...

* Eric Stern – operatic tenor

Uses in media

The ''

Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American historical drama, period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on cable network AMC (TV channel), AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, with seven seasons ...

'' episode "

Maidenform Maidenform Brands is a manufacturer of women's bras, underwear, and shapewear founded in 1922. History The company was founded in Bayonne, New Jersey in 1922 and sought to appeal to the flapper subculture of the time. Maidenform converted ...

" opened with a montage set to a segment of the song "The Infanta".

References

External links

Reviews
at

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

{{Authority control The Decemberists albums 2005 albums Kill Rock Stars albums Albums produced by Chris Walla