Since I can't seem to sleep...
Recommendation: Omnibus, Tarkio.
What happens if you take the Decemberists and replace all conceptual instances of "the British Empire" and replace it with "rural Montana"? You get Tarkio. It's a little more complicated, but Tarkio is Colin Meloy's band from his college years in Missoula, Montana. Omnibus is a collection of all their recorded material, and as such is a little unpolished and uneven, but the highs are so blisteringly high that it's easy to accept.

The album includes early versions of "Annabelle Leigh" and "My Mother Was a Chinese Trapeze Artist" which are fairly well realized, but there a several originals that are even better. Tarkio's flavor covers a fair amount of ground from "traditional" to "alt-country" to "high-distortion bar band". Songs in the latter category include the dark Tom Petty-ish jangle of "Carrie" and the grinding "This Rollercoaster Ride". Also entertaining is "Helena Won't Get Stoned".

Meloy says in the liner notes that wanting to be in a band with a banjo was a major factor in Tarkio's formation. Said banjo is played (by Gibson Hartwell) to great effect on the standout tracks "Weight of the World" ,"Neapolitan Bridesmaid", and "Better Half". These also feature some great writing by Meloy( "Bridesmaid" references both the Bible and Albert Camus). On the mid-tempo, indie-er side of things are "If I Had More Time" and "Following Camden Down".

"Sister Nebraska" sounds a bit like a country-tinged predecessor to "Song for Myla Goldberg". "Save Yourself" is an epic lament full of echoing pedal-steel. "Mountains of Mourne" is a nice rendition of an Irish song from the 19th century. "Tristan and Iseult" is spare and subtly gorgeous, casting mythical figures into college kids ("God I love you, but you trouble me.").

There are missteps, especially in the sometimes rough production, and a few fairly uninspiring lyrics. "Am I Not Right?" is a bit too confessional (and not all that catchy), and "Mess of Me" sounds like it was scrounged off a demo tape. One understands why Meloy and Hartwell express a bit of embarassment in the liner notes. This is the nature of compilations meant for completists (There are 27 tracks here in all, most of which actually stand up quite well).

While the impetus for its widespread release was clearly the burgeoning fame of the Decemberists, the material stands well on its own. As someone with a love of banjos, pedal steel, and bar band esthetics, I think there's some pretty fantastic material here.

Weight of the World - One of many songs which might be my very favorite ever (Right click and save).