I'll Be Your Girl is the eighth studio album by the American indie rock band The Decemberists, released on March 16, 2018 on Capitol and Rough Trade.[7] Produced by John Congleton, the band experimented with new instrumentation during the album's recording sessions, including several synth-based compositions inspired by New Order and Depeche Mode. The album was preceded by the singles "Severed" and "Once in My Life".
The album's lyrical content was, in part, influenced by the 2016 presidential election and its immediate aftermath. Vocalist and guitarist Colin Meloy noted: "[I'll Be Your Girl] celebrates the absurdity of our current predicaments. I think it really is a reflection of my outlook immediately post the 2016 election, where there was immediately this onset of despair. Like real despair. Real depression, and then sort of climbing out of it. Seeing other people feeling the same way, similarly climbing out of their hole and just witnessing events as they came along, rather than with tears. There was almost like an ironic humour but with anger, and those sort of go together. It was about finding the balance between real rage and humour – discovering the wild absurdity in it, but not being blithe."[8]
^ abErlewine, Stephen Thomas. "'I'll Be Your Girl' - The Decemberists". AllMusic. Retrieved June 21, 2018. The shorthand description of I'll Be Your Girl, the Decemberists' eighth album, is that it's the record where the band decide to ditch the past and engage with the modern world, layering their folk-rock with synthesizers and other contemporary accouterments.
^Kornhaber, Spencer (March 16, 2018). "The Decemberists' Shiny, Happy Protest Album". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 21, 2018. Seventeen years into the Portland rock eccentrics' career, Colin Meloy is writing more plainspoken lyrics than ever while his band accesses the joy of '80s synthpop.
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