THE DECEMBERISTS CASTAWAYS AND CUTOUTS

Self-funded and recorded piecemeal, this charmingly explorative debut is as much Meloy + friends as a fully fledged Decemberists album. MELOY: There was zero interest and zero prospects. In November 2001, I was in my midtwenties, and had planned an impromptu trip to Russia. My older sister was disappointed. She said, ‘I don’t think you should be travelling to Russia, I think you should be making music.’ It was a nice vote of confidence, and I pledged that as soon as I got back we’d make a record. We recorded over two weeks in this big room in Portland called Are You Listening, not far from the warehouse I was living in. Nate, our bass player, put it all on his credit card, and we paid him off over time. We were just fumbling along. A lot of the time it would just be me and the drummer. People had to take time off work, show up when they could.

FUNK: Everyone had jobs, so it was a very scattered recording. I was still a hired gun. The tracks were already laid down, and I came in to play pedal steel and just kept adding to it. We were in this old rickety building. Very low-budget and primitive.

MELOY: I played some rough mixes to the guy who runs Hush Records, a small label in town, and he liked it and agreed to release it. Sonically, it’s very digital, and my singing performance is lacking confidence, but it was a creative time for me. I like the songs, although “A Cautionary Song” was written in a different era. The subject matter is not necessarily appropriate any more. it felt like more of a group effort. We recorded half at Elliott Smith’s old studio, Jackpot, with Larry Crane, and half with Adam Selzer at Type Foundry. Why we did that I have no idea! I think I had this notion of a record with two distinct sides…

FUNK: We were still working jobs. I remember writing the middle section to “Los Angeles, I’m Yours” with Colin. We were living together at the time in this blown-out warehouse. We got a string section in, but I had to work the day we recorded them. Colin was like, “Aren’t you coming?” “I have to work!” It’s so funny, thinking about it now.

MELOY: I remember being very concerned about my vocal takes. I was eating these Slippery Elm lozenges, because I was terrified of losing my voice. I can hear that on the record. I was overthinking my vocals way too much. I like the songs, but performance-wise it’s not my favourite. I just hear a lot of worry! Not wanting to disappoint people.