Do The Decemberists have people fooled?

I don't know. I started listening to them because "The Hazards of Love" was edited in Argentina. They aren't bad , but there was so much hype about them that I thought they would be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

Synchestra wrote: I'm a little suprised to see them listed as prog folk too. Crossover or something like that maybe, as some of their songs are proggy (the island, and title track(s) from the crane wife, for example), but for the most part they seem a sort of folk-pop-rock band. but regardless, i love them prog or not

Here's another viewpoint I suppose:

Rolling Stone called the Decemberists 'prog' and 'folk'

Paste called them prog and folk (also called them the 'Dorks of Hazard', but that's okay )

Pitchfork called them prog-folk

Crud called them prog and folk

Slant called them prog (but not folk since no one at Slant knows what folk music is)

QRO called them prog and folk

Treble called the prog folk

Pop Matters calls them folk and prog "geeky" rock

SEE called them prog-folk

Barnes and Noble calls them prog and folk

Billboard calls them prog folk

Captain Obvious calls them prog and folk (thanks Captain Obvious!)

So if you were some relatively clueless but well-meaning young lad (or lass) and were trolling around the big scary and confusing internet looking for some folks who knew a bit about prog and folk music and maybe had some good advice on which Decemberists albums were the best, and possibly even some other bands that might be considered in that same general category; where would you more than likely end up?

This place is called a prog Archive after all, not a 'prog club', and the primary reason it exists is to provide people with a comprehensive reference source for prog music.  That, of necessity, means including quite a bit of music that isn't going to appeal to some (or even most) of us who frequent the site.

I spend a lot of time at the library too, even though I only check out a very, very small percentage of the books housed there.