The Decemberists' upcoming album, "The Crane Wife," is thematically based on a tragic Japanese folk tale, but band leader Colin Meloy promises a fair dose of rock'n'roll, rape, murder and violence as well. "It wouldn't be a Decemberists record without it,"

Describing the forthcoming set as their "weirdest yet," Meloy says "The Crane Wife" will be bookended by "epic-long" songs, both clocking in around the 12-minute mark - "The Island" and the title track. The latter, which is performed in three "movements," defines the thrust of the record, revolving around the story of the title character.

Paraphrasing Meloy: A poor man finds a wounded crane in the woods and nurses it until it is able to fly away on its own. A few days later, a woman shows up at his door, they fall in love and get married. As they're poor, the wife suggests that the poor man sell a special cloth that she weaves in the nearby town, on the condition that he not look in the room while she's making it. Ultimately, the man's curiosity and greed overtakes him and he peers in the room only to discover his wife is a crane and she plucks out her own feathers to infuse into the cloth. She sees that he sees and she flies away.

Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. The Crane Wife 3
2. The Island: Come and See, The Landlord's Daughter, You'll Not Feel The Drowning
3. Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then)
4. O Valencia!
5. The Perfect Crime #2
6. When The War Came
7. Shankill Butchers
8. Summersong
9. The Crane Wife 1 & 2
10. Sons & Daughters