The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

The Decemberists: Hazards of Love
Release Date: March 24, 2009

From the mists of Portland comes a band known as The Decemberists; armed with an accordion, organ and Colin Meloy. The unique blend of Meloy’s distinct voice, the humming of the instruments and the literary way of writing lyrics makes them one of the staples of any good music collection. Their latest album, The Hazards of Love, continues the Decemberists journey towards redefining the way stories are told through music.

The Decemberists have attempted this sort of full length story/album combination before, with 2007’s The Crane Wife. That story was based on a Japanese folk-tale, but Hazards is entirely original. It centers around two lovers, Margret and William a shape-shifting forest dweller. Various villains stand in the way between the lovers and bliss. As far as the story goes, it’s not anything spectacular but once paired with the music the two intertwine nicely.

The music itself takes some leaps from the traditional vaudevillian style the Decemberists usually go with. Songs like “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing” sound much harder than usual; while the ballads tend to sound similar to earlier works such as “The Engine Driver.” My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden and Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark lend their voices to the album, giving the songs more diversity then if it were just Meloy singing.

While songs like “The Rake’s Song” and “Won’t Want For Love (Margret In The Tiaga)” can stand alone, Hazards is meant to be listened to straight through. The way the story threads through the songs and the similarities and nuances throughout the tale are reminiscent of Peter and the Wolf. Listeners can easily sense the impending doom of the lovers and deduce when evil is afoot just by the music. By making the album so involved within itself, Meloy has lost some of the creativity that comes when his stories were confined to one song.

For those who are familiar with the Decemberists, The Hazards of Love is an obvious transition for the band to make and fits nicely into their entire body of work. But, for those who have yet to discover the wonders of earlier Decemberists albums, start with something like Picaresque. Being able to see the band’s progression from such songs as “The Bagman's Gambit” to their latest work makes it all the more enjoyable.

Check out more from the wondrous world of the Decemberists
http://www.decemberists.com
http://www.myspace.com/thedecemberists
http://twitter.com/colinmeloy