The Crane Wife
Seal, you weren't kidding.
The new Decemberists album is spectacular. You've just got to hear it.
Listen to The Crane Wife 1 and 2 here.
[ The Decemberists are one of a couple bands that helped to define my college years. Leslie Anne Levine was for bombing around campus on my bicycle, lost in the lovely macabre; Red Right Ankle and I Don't Mind, quiet songs with sharp edges, for walking home in the middle of the night to an empty house; and the shows! Wedged up front in the Lucky Lounge in Austin, Pam and I, and then again across the country up north in Burlington, a car full of friends, shouting along to Myla Goldberg in that tiny little club. The Decemberists haven't been hip in that on-the-bleeding-edge indie way for a while, so you won't win any super-cool points for listening, but I bet you'll like it anyway. ]