If you’ve opened stereogum dot com today, you likely recognize Colin Meloy primarily as the frontman of the longtime literary-leaning indie-folk outfit the Decemberists. Yet for a portion of readers, Meloy’s fame lies with the Wildwood Chronicles, a young-adult fantasy series set in his native Portland and brought to life with illustrations by his wife, Carson Ellis. (We discussed it with him in our We’ve Got A File On You feature.) Wildwood, the first installment, has been turned into a stop-motion animated film, and, as one would expect, the Decemberists contribute to the soundtrack.
“The Better Part Of Bravery,” the first Decemberists track in over two years, appears on the official Wildwood soundtrack alongside Dario Marianelli’s original score. The soundtrack lands in two weeks, simultaneously with the movie, but the Decemberists’ song is available now, a folk-rock rambler highlighted by deft harmonica and banjo moments. “The biggest part of bravery is in the letting go,” Meloy declares in the chorus.
On his Substack, Meloy shares the following:
Travis Knight, the director of the film, had asked me years ago to write this tune and I was, as the immortal grand dame of musical theater once wrote, both excited and scared. How to write a song that carried the heart of a film, one that is based on a story that you yourself wrote? I had notions about what I thought the books were about, but knew that would not necessarily line up with what the film was about. This, my friends, is soul of collaboration. The frisson of creative partnership.
Listen below.
The Wildwood soundtrack is out 10/23 on Decca, the same day the movie hits theaters. Next Friday will see the release of a second album called The Wildwood Sessions featuring music from fellow Portland acts like Aminé, Portugal. The Man, and swiftly, swiftly as well as acts like Saya Gray, Still Woozy, and New Constellations.
