Rock Band Releases New Music for First Time in 6 Years

The Decemberists are stepping back into the music scene, this week releasing their first new song in six years following 2018’s I’ll Be Your Girl and its companion-piece EP Traveling On. On Tuesday, the indie rock band – consisting of Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen- dropped their new single “Burial Ground,” featuring James Mercer of The Shins, while also announcing a 2024 North American tour.

Described as “pop simplicity at its best,” “Burial Ground,” which you can listen to here, features jangly guitars and swelling horns, with Meloy’s lyrics propelling it forward as Mercer provides backup vocals. Opening up about the song in a press release, Meloy said “Burial Ground” “is in that time-honored pop song tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyards. The melody hook came to me in a dream and I hummed it into my phone on waking. Most dream-songs are bad; this was the exception.”

Along with the release of “Burial Ground,” The Decemberists also treated fans to another major announcement: they are going on tour. The group’s tour, described as “a big, sprawling North American tour,” is set to kick off at Kingston, New York’s Ulster PAC on April 30. The Decemberists’ A Peaceable Kingdom tour will last throughout the spring and summer before ending on Aug. 3 in Troutdale, Oregon. Chicago indie rock group Ratboys will open every show of the tour, with the Head and the Heart joining as support during the July 12 show in Bend, Oregon. Other stops on the tour include a show at Brooklyn Paramount on May 3, a stop at Dallas’ Majestic Theater on May 14, Milwaukee’s Riverside Theater on May 18, and the Fox Theater in Oakland, California on July 13, as well as concerts in Los Angeles, San Diego, Denver, Spokane, and Vancouver, British Columbia, among several others. You can view the complete list of tour dates here.

The Decemberists formed in 2000 after Meloy moved from Montana to Portland, Oregon and met Query (bassist), Conlee (keyboardist), and Funk (guitarist). The group went on to release their debut EP 5 Songs in 2001, making their full-length debut with Castaways and Cutouts just a year later. They’ve since gone on to tour the world, perform at major festivals, found Travelers’ Rest, and appear on The Simpsons, and collaborate with Hamilton‘s Lin-Manuel Miranda. Prior to “Burial Ground,” their last new music was their eighth studio album I’ll Be Your Girl in 2018 and its companion-piece EP Traveling On.

Tickets for the A Peaceable Kingdom tour will go on sale to the public beginning at 10 a.m. local time on Friday, Feb. 9. VIP pre-sale begins Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 10 a.m. local time.