The Decemberists – The Crane Wife (2xLP)

The Decemberists have risen from beloved cult favorites to the first rank of the music world with a series of beautiful and fantastical albums brimming with flawless melodies and songs inhabited by casts of legionnaires, chimney sweeps, sea captains and seekers of all kinds. Led by these songs, and by a group dynamic that embraces experimentation even as it celebrates everything from classic pop to Klezmer to Irish jig to prog rock, The Decemberists have hand-crafted a purely original aesthetic all their own.