Castaways and Cutouts
Occupation
- Guitar, pedal steel guitar, Theremin: Chris Funk
- Guitar, vocals, percussion, lyrics: Colin Meloy
- Bass: Nate Query
- Organ, piano, accordion: Jenny Conlee
- Drums, percussion, vocals: Ezra Holbrook
Castaways and Cutouts is the debut album of the American band The Decemberists. It was published on Hush Records on 21 May 2002 and again on 6 May 2003 at Kill Rock Stars. The name of the album is from a lyric line of the tracks California One / Youth and Beauty Brigade, meaning " shipwrecked and fuses ".
The album cover was done by artist Carson Ellis, the former girlfriend and current wife of Colin Meloy, who was responsible for all the album art of the band.
This is the only complete album, in which Ezra Holbrook plays the drums. He also played in the 5 Songs EP and provided backing vocals for The Crane Wife.
Title list
Reviews
Stephen Cramer of Allmusic praised Meloys compelling storytelling and stunning bass by Nate Query. Pitchfork awarded 8.1 out of 10 and particularly emphasized the happy song July, July! forth. Also Noel Murray of The A.V. Club praised the songwriting qualities Meloys.