Two weeks after the release of ‘What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World’, Starbucks is offering a song from The Decemberists’ latest album.
‘Make You Better’ is a powerful and thoughtful song, with nostalgic keys and fierce guitars all going bigger and bigger as the song progresses. Colin Meloy’s clear vocals go from melancholic to victorious in the chorus, while singing about the slow disintegration of a loving relationship through time — although he portrays a very short one — with the right dose of hope and brightness: ‘But we’re not so starry-eyed anymore/Like the perfect paramour you were in your letters/And won’t it all just come around to make you/Let it all unbreak you to the day you met her/But it’d make you better/It’d make you better’
And should I mention how catchy the song is at the first listen? It sounds like something between Death For Cutie and R.E.M., and may be it is precisely a bit too catchy or a bit too comfortable during its predictable sweeping-the-place chorus? But the song is pretty and climatic, and you will sing along very soon, so what’s not to like?
And the video for the song is actually hilarious, although some die-hard fans may find it quite awful because of the corny play on words (better/butter) or frustrating because Nick Offerman, with his fake French-German accent and porn-star mustache, is stealing the best part!
Download the song for free on iTunes using the code 76F49JK3JY79
