the tain

the decemberists | "the tain" | the tain | 2004

wow! two of my worlds collide in such beautiful fashion: music and obscure northern european literature. i read the táin bó cúailnge while at cambridge. don't ask me how to pronounce it; irish pronunciation is something i haven't gotten to yet.

this video makes me wonder why i've put off getting into the decemberists for so long. any band that even knows about the tain, let alone remakes it into something so sweetly heavy, is top o' the pops in my book. i love the old-fashioned back-lit animation too.

(get your bowl of popcorn – this is about 20 minutes long and worth it.)