If you've navigated your web browser to stereogum dot com today, you likely know Colin Meloy first and foremost as the frontman for longstanding bookish indie-folk greats the Decemberists. But for a segment of the population, Meloy is best known as the author of the Wildwood Chronicles, a series of fantasy novels aimed at teens and preteens, set in his native Portland and illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis. (We talked to him about it in our We've Got A File On You interview.) Wildwood, the first of those books, has been adapted into a stop-motion animated movie, and unsurprisingly, the Decemberists are on the soundtrack. "The Better Part Of Bravery," the first new Decemberists song in over two years, is on the official Wildwood soundtrack along with the original score by Dario Marianelli.
The soundtrack is out today, thus so is the Decemberists song, a folk-rock rambler with some real nice harmonica and banjo action. "The biggest part of bravery is in the letting go," Meloy sings on 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. The Wildwood soundtrack is out now on Decca. 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 quickly, quickly as well as acts like Saya Gray, Still Woozy, and New Constellations.. Wildwood hits theaters 10/23.
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