The Decemberists Share “Burial Ground,” Their First New Single in 6 Years

Early-aughts indie rock came roaring back this week with the release of “Burial Ground,” the first new song from The Decemberists in the better part of a decade, featuring The Shins frontman James Mercer.

For a band with such a flair for the baroque, The Decemberists’ “Burial Ground” is surprisingly straightforward, a warm, winking guitar-pop song that scans like a statement of renewed purpose. “This world’s all wrong / So let’s go where we belong / Pack up the stereo, meet at the burial ground,” vocalist Colin Meloy sings over jangly guitar strums and tambourine, as if resolving to find peace amid life’s light and darkness alike.

Meloy’s voice is later joined by celebratory horns and Mercer’s own, both of which enhance the song’s sense of communal joy, like the band is delighting in both the songs we sing and those we sing them with. And as if aboard the merry-go-round Meloy mentions, The Decemberists dedicate the track’s third act to looping its hyper-catchy chorus, reveling in its melodious simplicity and the new life music can lend even to a land of the lost.

“‘Burial Ground’ is in that time-honored pop song tradition, a paean to hanging out in graveyards,” Meloy said in a statement. “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.”

There’s no word yet on a larger body of work inbound from the band, but in the meantime, they’ll be touring North America this spring and summer, starting on April 30 in Kingston, New York, and wrapping up on the opposite coast in August, with a closing hometown show in Troutdale, Oregon, on Aug. 3. Tickets go on sale to the public Friday, Feb. 9, at 10 a.m. local time.

Find the band’s complete tour itinerary below the playlist. You can stream “Burial Ground” here.

You can hear new music from The Decemberists on The Independent 89.9 HD4, our music-discovery station. For a primer on the latest songs added to rotation, dig into Fresh Squeeze playlists below.