Stepping inside the discography of The Decemberists is much like flipping through old photo albums and aching for a time that has long since past.

With their special cocktail of one part sorrow and one part hope, The Decemberists are an emotional force to be reckoned with. The Portland, Ore. quintet quietly stepped into the music scene in 2002 with their first LP Castaways and Cutouts and have been making quite the racket since.

With albums in their arsenal such as The Crane Wife (2006) and their most recent The King Is Dead (2011), it’s no surprise that their Jan. 20 release is a standout effort.

Combining their token nostalgic sound with a touch of genre-dabbling, What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World takes more risks than any of their previous releases. The Decemberists didn’t set out to please a wide audience, but it seems they have finally grown comfortable with the enormity of their fan base and are willing to take chances — especially with songs such as “12-17-12”, a sombre meditation on the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

This heavy-handed subject matter is only the tip of the iceberg. What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World quickly proves itself to be the group’s most socially and self-aware album to date. The LP dives into sensitive topics head first, placing much of its focus on grief and personal struggle. In “Make You Better” singer Colin Meloy rifts through the emotional debris of a breakup as he laments “We’re not so starry-eyed anymore/ Like the perfect paramour you were in your letters.” In “Lake Song”, the listener is thrown into the depths of nostalgia and wrestles with bittersweet memories of adolescence.

Not all the songs on What A Terrible, What A Beautiful World deal strictly with sadness and regret. One of the star tracks on the album in terms of sheer uniqueness is “Philomena.” With an almost doo-wop feel and cheery beat, this track is a much-needed break from the melancholy attitude of much of the rest of the LP.

“Till The Water Is All Gone” and “Easy Come, Easy Go” are striking selections with their melodic guitar intros and southern sound. “Anti-Summersong” stands out as well as a tongue-in-cheek response to the track “Summersong”, found on The Crane Wife. The cool autumn after a long and hot summer, “Anti-Summersong” is a somewhat bitter resignation that all good things must come to an end with its lyrics “I’m not goin’ on just a-singin’ that ol’ summersong/ So long, farewell, we’re gone.”

The Decemberists prove themselves to be jacks-of-all-trades when it comes to genre in What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World with their daring blend of southern folk twang, upbeat rock and acoustic indie. Though the shift from sound to sound may give the album a bit more of a scattered feel than their previous cohesive albums, The Decemberists’ willingness to experiment a bit on this LP is refreshing.

This juxtaposition of jubilant and heartbreaking tracks acts as a perfect reflection of the album’s title. What A Terrible World, What A Beautiful World invites its listeners to find the beauty amidst the darkness that so often envelops humanity.

The end track, “A Beginning Song”, sums this up perfectly with its closing lyrics “Bright light, bright light/ It’s all around me.” The Decemberists have come to terms with the tragedy that the album’s previous tracks dealt with and that modern society is so often surrounded by. They are choosing instead to focus on the greener pastures that lay on the other side and hope that their listeners follow suit.

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Photo: Flickr/Kim Levene