The Decemberists [ tickets ] are gearing up for the Oct. 3 release of their first major-label album, "The Crane Wife," and will back the set with a North American tour that kicks off later that month.

The group is scheduled to launch the road trip two weeks after "The Crane Wife" hits the shelves, and stops are planned in two-dozen cities by mid-November. Details are included below.

"The Crane Wife," The Decemberists' fourth full-length disc, follows last year's "Picaresque." The new set takes its name from a Japanese folk tale that singer/songwriter Colin Meloy came across several years ago in the children's section of a local bookstore, according to a press release, which describes the collection as "an extrapolation of the folk tale, a re-imagining of its themes on a broader canvas."

"As the lyrics chronicle a tale of murder and rape, the instruments chart a far-flung course through multiple musical genres into a full-blown masterpiece," the release continues.

"There was a real strong sense among the band that we were not going to try to make a record that someone would typically make for a major label," Meloy said in a statement. "In some ways I think it pushed us farther to the left, farther out of The Decemberists comfort zone."