The Decemberists Return With “The Better Part Of Bravery,” Their First New Song In Over Two Years

Colin Meloy has run two careers in parallel for years: frontman of the Decemberists, and author of the Wildwood Chronicles, the fantasy series he wrote and his wife Carson Ellis illustrated. The first of those books has now been adapted into a stop-motion animated film directed by Travis Knight, and Meloy’s band provides its first new material in more than two years.

“The Better Part Of Bravery” appears on the Wildwood soundtrack alongside Dario Marianelli’s original score. It is a folk-rock rambler, with harmonica and banjo carrying much of the weight, and a chorus that turns on one line: “The biggest part of bravery is in the letting go.”

Writing it was not simple. On his Substack, Meloy said Knight asked him for the song years ago, and that he was “both excited and scared” by the request. He noted the distance between what he believed his books were about and what the film turned out to be about, and framed that gap as the actual substance of collaboration.

The soundtrack is out October 23 on Decca, the same day the film reaches theaters. A companion album, The Wildwood Sessions, arrives the Friday before, drawing on Portland acts including Aminé, Portugal. The Man, and quickly, quickly, alongside Saya Gray, Still Woozy, and New Constellations.