The Decemberists are back with “All I Want Is You,” an “unapologetic love song” and the latest single from their upcoming album, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again.
A stripped-back song featuring a finger-plucked acoustic guitar and rich vocal harmonies, “All I Want Is You” is a hymnal-like ode to earnest love, climaxing as a smooth bed of brass enters beneath Colin Meloy’s gentle delivery of the titular refrain.
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Speaking about the song, Meloy said, “‘All I Want Is You’ is a love song. An unapologetic, wear-it-on-its-sleeve love song. I don’t write a ton of those, at least not in this vein.”
Continuing, Meloy offered insight into the origins of the new single. “The song grew out of the finger picking pattern — ‘Don’t want pretty poses…’ — and I just followed that lead,” he said. “In the end, it just kind of wrote itself. It’s so bare bones, it lived for a long time in my songwriting notebook, kind of in hiding, before I got up the courage to put it out there. It shares a title and hook with many songs that have come before it, but I like to think I’m merely adding my own take to that tradition.”
Stream “All I Want Is You” below.
As a whole, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again, is due on June 14th via YABB Records (Thirty Tigers). Earlier this year, the band ended their six-year hiatus by sharing the album’s singles “Burial Ground” and the nearly-20-minute-long “Joan in the Garden.” Pre-orders for the album are ongoing.
Meanwhile, The Decemberists’ 2024 tour will kick off at the end of this month, taking the band to cities like Brooklyn, Atlanta, Los Angeles, and more. Check out their upcoming dates, and grab tickets here.