Pitchfork: Compared to The Hazards of Love, The King Is Dead is a very back-to-basics record. Did you think of it as a direct response to how some people received the last record?
Colin Meloy: It’s funny, because you can’t talk about this record without talking about The Hazards of Love. Everybody has come out of the woodwork talking about how that album was overwrought. It’s like the girlfriend that you bring to your family and they all say that they really like her, but then when you break up with her, and they’re like, “Oh God, I hated her the whole time. You’re so much better off.” Even I’m starting to believe it, like, “I guess The Hazards of Love did kind of suck, didn’t it?” But there’s a real love for the record, too; it’s my favorite record that we’ve done.
IT’S MY FAVORITE TOO, COLIN.
source: Pitchfork
