What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World

What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World is the seventh studio album from The Decemberists, released on January 20, 2015. The album's title comes from a line in the song "12/17/12", a reference to the date of Barack Obama's speech in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and lead singer Colin Meloy's conflicting feelings about the shooting and his happy personal life.

Critical
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World received mostly positive reviews. It currently has a metascore of 77 from Metacritic. The Boston Globe described the album as one of the band's "most enjoyable and lively efforts in recent memory", The New York Times noted that What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World "strikes a note of pop concision and maturity, building on what worked on ‘The King Is Dead.’ Lyrically, there are fewer thistles and minarets and palanquins—and, musically, less digressive excess—than once made up the Decemberists’ trademark style." Jeremy D. Larson of Pitchfork was a detractor, bemoaning the album as "overlong and under-ambitious", though appreciating that listeners "start to see Meloy himself more than ever". Larson also wrote highly of "Make You Better", stating, "The band has never lacked the musical bona fides to write a great anthem."

Commercial
The album debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on its release, selling around 50,000 copies in the United States in its first week. It also debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums, and No. 1 on the Folk Albums chart. The album has sold 123,000 copies in the United States as of October 2015.

Track listing
All songs written by Colin Meloy.

Personnel
According to the liner notes of What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World.

The Decemberists

 * Colin Meloy – lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, bouzouki, harmonica, backing vocals
 * Chris Funk – acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, bouzouki, mandolin
 * Jenny Conlee – piano, Hammond organ, vibraphone, accordion, keyboards
 * Nate Query – bass, upright bass
 * John Moen – drums, percussion, backing vocals

Additional musicians

 * Backup singers


 * Rachel Flotard (tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14)
 * Kelly Hogan (tracks 2, 3, 9, 10, 12)
 * Laura Veirs (track 5)
 * Ragen Fykes (tracks 6, 8)
 * Moorea Masa (tracks 6, 8)
 * "The Singer Addresses His Audience" Choir: Kyleen King, Laura Veirs, Allison Hall, Bridgit Jacobson, Carson Ellis, Michael Finn, Jeremy Swatzky, Shelley Short, Steven Watkins, Ritchie Young, Moorea Masa
 * The "Anti-Summersong" Narrator Support Gang: Chris Funk, Nate Query, John Moen, Jason Colton, Tucker Martine


 * Strings and brass


 * Rob Moose – violin, fiddle
 * Kyleen King – viola
 * Patti King – violin
 * Anna Fritz – cello
 * Victor Nash – trumpet

Production

 * Produced by Tucker Martine with The Decemberists
 * String arrangements by Rob Moose
 * Recorded and mixed by Tucker Martine
 * Mastered by Stephen Marcussen
 * Assistant engineering by Michael Finn
 * Design by Jeri Heiden and Glen Nakasako for SMOG Design, Inc.
 * Illustrations and lettering by Carson Ellis
 * Photography by Autumn de Wilde