On this year’s winning The King Is Dead, The Decemberists presented the most immediately engaging batch of songs of their career, playing rootsy and melodic folk-pop with more grit than the bookish ensemble is known for. Where The King Is Dead represented the band loosening their neckties a bit, the album’s EP-sized sequel, Long Live The King, finds The Decemberists removing their coats and sprawling out comfortably on the living-room rug. A collection of outtakes from the King Is Dead sessions, Long Live The King finds inspiration in the Grateful Dead, whose gently rollicking “Row Jimmy” gets covered in spirited, surprisingly boozy fashion. Similarly, Long Live The King is a loose, almost ramshackle record; the songs, particularly the home-recorded demo “I 4 U & U 4 Me” are as catchy as ever, but they’re like snapshots of a band living in the moment, without regard for whether everything is falling exactly in the right place.