Picaresque (album)

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Picaresque is the third studio album by The Decemberists, released in 2005 on Kill Rock Stars. The band recorded it in August and September 2004 at Prescott Church in northeast Portland, renting the space for a month to spark creativity; they even used a bike helmet filled with slips of paper listing ideas. The music blends indie rock, folk rock, and baroque pop, and it features non-traditional instruments like the accordion and hurdy-gurdy. Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie produced the album. It includes the single "Sixteen Military Wives," whose video was shared by the band via BitTorrent. A double vinyl release came with an outtakes EP called Picaresqueties, and this was the last release the band issued with Kill Rock Stars. In Europe, Rough Trade issued a single-disc vinyl version without the EP. A 2015 limited red vinyl pressing celebrated the 10th anniversary, with three sides of music and a fourth side for the EP. By September 2006 it had sold about 123,000 copies in the United States. Picaresque received strong critical praise, with an 81/100 on Metacritic; it reached number 5 on Billboard’s Heatseekers chart and number 128 on the Billboard 200. Pitchfork ranked it 143 on their list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s. All songs were written by Colin Meloy. The track "The Infanta" was used in a montage in the Mad Men episode "Maidenform."