The Decemberists – The Hazards Of Love
I first caught attention of The Decemberists in 2006. The Crane Wife, the album that got me into them, was a mix of folk and indie rock with some slight dashes of ‘prog’ that was a rewarding listen. Fast forward two and a half years and they have a new album, Hazards Of Love, which is an unabashed concept album with a narrative running all the way through. The official press release says it “tells the tale of Margaret (Voiced by Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark), a woman from a city near the forest, and her lover William (voiced by Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy), a shape-shifting forest dweller. Margaret discovers she is pregnant, and sets off into the forest to find William. Their love is threatened by the jealous forest queen (Voiced by My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden), and a murdering knave.”
As you would expect from the storyline, the music shifts from one mood and pace to another and because of the nature of the album all the songs link up with each other, making it almost impossible to listen to on shuffle. Some of it flows seamlessly – the way that the stomping sound of The Rake’s Songs then turns into the nervy and tense pace of The Abduction Of Margaret is a great example. However, as to be expected, some songs don’t work as well and one wonders whether some songs even need to be on here.
I think the one thing that is clear is that The Hazards Of Love will divide opinion. Some will see it as an album that tells a coherent story in 55 minutes and love it for that. Others will dismiss as an album that is just too pomp and with far too many ideas. For me I think the idea is brilliant but it just tries to pack too much into its running time. Had they chopped out some of the filler and condensed it to a more manageable size then The Hazards Of Love would have been a sure-fire album of the year contender. However, it remains an ambitious, if somewhat flawed, concept album.
RATING – 3/5
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Posted on April 2nd, 2009 by Max
Filed under: Albums, Reviews
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