The Decemberists new album, "The King Is Dead"

Adored Mailing List Recipients,

Hello!  I hadn't seen you come in.  Excuse me while I turn down the hi-fi.  What is this?  Must you ask?  Why, this happens to be Marshall Tucker Band's seminal eponymous LP; shall I let it play?  No mind: there are important things at hand.

First off, we Decemberists would like to inform you, the Mailing List Recipient, that our forthcoming long-player, The King is Dead, will be available on January 18th in a number of different incarnations, as is the current style, that will mollify every toiler in the tax-bracket.  They are too numerous to be itemized here; there is much to tell and our time is short.

Please visit TheDecemberists.com to check out all the options.

I would, however, like to take this opportunity to tell you about the top-of-the-line, no-holds-barred, chocolate-dipped-Cadillac version of the record, which will heretofore be known as theDELUXE BOX EDITION.

Should you choose the DELUXE BOX EDITION, you will receive, in a fine cloth-bound embossed clamshell BOX, the following:

• CD version of the record
• 180-gram WHITE vinyl version of the record with a unique cover
• A DVD of Pendarvia, a film by Aaron Rose about the making of the record
• A limited edition print by Decemberist illustratrix  Carson Ellis
• A 72 page clothbound book featuring photographs by Autumn de Wilde and illustrations by Carson Ellis
• A one-of-a-kind Polaroid photograph by Ms. de Wilde from the Impossible Project/Decemberists series

This latter item requires some explaining:

One night on Pendarvis Farm, whilst merrily roasting tofu dogs over an open campfire, we Decemberists, along with our esteemed Management Representatives and a certain Missus Autumn de Wilde, photographer superieur, hatched a plan wherein Mizz de Wilde would document the making of The King is Dead on Polaroid film, a full 2500 photos to be exact, and we would then include one of those unique photographs individually in each of the DELUXE BOX EDITION of the record.  Naturally, this is the sort of cockamamy scheme that lodges itself in the minds of perfectly sane adults while under the influence of a bucolic, Arcadian Oregon summer; the expense was deemed too great.  This is where The Impossible Project came in, a group devoted to the survival of Polaroid films of all sorts and collect or manufacture this ever-rarified breed of film in order to sell or donate it to photographers worldwide.  They liked our idea; they donated us the film.  And so here we are, this dream fulfilled.  Ms. de Wilde followed us Decemberists around all summer, snapping Polaroids. We posed obligingly. And, my dear Mailing List Recipient, one of those photos could be yours.


In other news, we're fairly bowled over to announce that our 2nd show at the Beacon Theatre in New York City has sold out.  We thank you, kindly, for this surprising showing of support.  And we'd like to announce that a THIRD show at that historic theatre will be added.  The date is January 24.  A limited presale begins today HERE.  Tickets will be onsale to the public on December 10.  Tickets for all other 2011 North American and European dates are onsale now.

January 24, Beacon Theatre, New York, NY* PRESALE HERE
January 25, Beacon Theatre, New York, NY*  SOLD OUT 
January 26, Beacon Theatre, New York, NY*  SOLD OUT
January 28, House of Blues, Boston, MA* TICKETS
January 29, House of Blues, Boston, MA* TICKETS
January 31, Olympia De Montreal, Montreal, Canada* TICKETS
February 1, Sound Academy, Toronto, Canada* TICKETS
February 2, Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak, MI* TICKETS
Feburary 4, Riviera Theatre, Chicago, IL* TICKETS
February 5, Riverside Theatre, Milwaukee, WI# TICKETS
February 6, State Theatre, Minneapolis, MN# TICKETS
February 7, Uptown Theatre, Kansas City, MO# TICKETS
February 9, Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO# TICKETS
February 10, Ogden Theatre, Denver, CO# TICKETS    
February 12, The Wiltern, Los Angeles, CA# TICKETS
February 13, House of Blues-San Diego, San Diego, CA# TICKETS
February 14, Fox Theater, Oakland, CA# TICKETS
February 18, Paramount Ballroom, Seattle, WA# TICKETS
February 19, Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR# TICKETS 

* with Wye Oak
# with Mountain Man

 

Yours,

 

The Decemberists