It can be a real treat for the fans when the singer of a well-known band does a solo show or tour. They tend to be full of funny stage banter, weird covers and performances of those uber-rare old songs and b-sides. Colin Meloy from the Decemberists just finished up one such tour, and for swag purposes, he brought along a tour-only EP of Morrissey covers. Most of the time when artists do these sort of solo shows, I get the feeling they want to convey a sense of intimacy, but not so much seriousness. Jeff Tweedy felt so much like he didn’t need to be taken super-seriously that he brought Fred Armissen with him to open his solo shows in 2001. Bringing along a bunch of Morrissey covers as a tour favor seems to me like the opposite of brining a stand-up comic. If this EP is indicative of the shows, the shows were serious. The music here is pretty heavy-handed, and for everyone’s sake I hope the shows were a little more lighthearted.

It’s heavy, yeah. But I’d still say it’s quite good. The only review of this EP that I’ve read said that people suck at covering Morrissey. I stopped reading it there, because I disagree—I think that a lot of people have done it with reverence and success. To me, it’s a great thing to hear an artist interpret a Morrissey song, because they’re full of possibilities. It’s great to hear someone covering Morrissey songs with aplomb, hugging those melodies, or choosing just completely making the song their own, like when Mojo Nixon breaks down in the middle of his rockabilly “Girlfriend in a Coma” to scream “I, Mojo Nixon am the Anti-Morrissey!” over and over. I probably am able to enjoy all of this because even though I like Moz/The Smiths, I’m not a crazy die-hard fan at all. The thought of Mojo, a singer who got married at a go-cart track singing “Girlfriend in a Coma” only strikes me as slightly less bizarre than Morrissey writing it—and trying to sound serious about it—in the first place.

Like I was saying, though, about that heavy-handedness. The first couple of cuts here are straight up, guy-and-a-guitar versions, and they’re good, “Pregnant For the Last Time” in particular. But the record really takes off in the middle and starts feeling less mopey when some overdubs of an extra guitar and some and harmony break though. The harmonies in particular make “Jack the Ripper” sound beautiful, elegiac and even tastefully creepy. He even sounds quite a bit like Morrissey. Of course, it doesn’t hurt anything that Meloy already sings in a faux British accent, despite being from Montana. Then comes “I’ve Changed My Plea to Guilty,” another one that’s a contender for the best track here, and certainly has the best arrangement on the record, with simple arpeggios made elegant by flourishes and bass runs on a 12-string.

The technical details of the record notwithstanding, there are a bunch of things that work in Meloy’s favor here. First, even some Moz fans won’t know the songs here already. I’m not to proud to admit I only knew two of them. Also, there’s no pressure to turn in a masterpiece here, since it’s a limited edition live covers EP—even if it sucked, it would pass mildly away. If it’s great, it’ll be a killer on eBay later—especially with that cute li’l misprint on the back cover. There are even little faltering mistakes in the guitar once in a while that make it sound live and flawed, and better for it. It’s just a little shout out to a great singer songwriter, proving that a stranger can take his songs fifteen or twenty years later, stript hem down to voice and guitar and make a room full of hipsters fall silent and listen. Gee, when I put it like that, it makes me real said that the tickets to Meloy’s Chicago show hadn’t sold out before I got a chance to buy one.