Artist: The Decemberists
Album: The Hazards Of Love
Year: 2009
Grade: 3 pretzels
Everything seems to be coming in pairs this week. Two reviews of Canadian supergroups, two albums I compared to Pavement, etc. Well, it doesn’t look like this trend will be stopping any time soon, since The Hazards Of Love becomes the second concept album I’m reviewing this week, joining Mastodon’s Crack The Skye. However, this time around, there will be 100% less Rasputin and Russian cults. Disappointed?
Instead, The Hazards Of Love tackles an exceedingly convoluted love story, cooked up by Decemberists mastermind Colin Meloy. Apparently (by which I mean, according to Wikipedia), the story follows Margaret, a woman who falls in love with William, who is, I shit you not, “a shape-shifting forest dweller.” Perhaps there’s something a bit warped about me, but I’m much more inclined to accept the wacky story about Rasputin than transforming satyrs. Anyway, the story goes on, as the “forest queen” becomes jealous. Apparently, a “murdering knave” also plays a part. All these various characters are each “played” by different singers, with Meloy himself singing as William and assorted female singers (including Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond) playing other parts. Still with me?
As I’m sure you can tell, this is a sprawling concept for an indie rock album. Even by the Decemberists usual lofty standards, this album is quite a piece of work. However, the album’s story tends to run off the tracks whenever Meloy sacrifices direct storytelling for whatever new piece of vocabulary he’s discovered. His love of words is positively palpable (“it proceeds you like a black smoke pall”). The story he’s trying to tell becomes lost is this maze of syntax and multi-syllabic words.
The music is very different from what the Decemberists' have recorded in the past. Instead of the wavering sea shanties they became famous for, the band have opted for a very strange hard-rock/folk sound for The Hazards Of Love. There’s some lovely acoustic guitar licks scattered throughout the album (“The Hazards Of Love 1” is a personal favorite), but they are few and far between. Thunderous electric guitar crunches appear much more frequently, often at strange, possibly inappropriate moments. Plus, being the rock opera it is, the album is filled with small motifs and riffs that recur again and again. While the concept is very ambitious, these small details don’t translate well. The listener is left wondering if they already heard each song earlier.
I can’t fault Meloy and the Decemberists for being ambitious, nor can I say this album is unexpected. It was just a matter of time before the hyper-literate Meloy tackled a full-fledged rock opera. Sadly, The Hazards Of Love never really clicks. A few songs, such as the stomping “The Rake’s Song”, show moments of genuine artistic inspiration, but most of the space on the album is taken up with songs just trying to move the sprawling narrative forward. They don’t get to simply exist as songs in their own right. Ultimately, The Hazards Of Love is heavy on concept, but tragically short on substance.
Instead, The Hazards Of Love tackles an exceedingly convoluted love story, cooked up by Decemberists mastermind Colin Meloy. Apparently (by which I mean, according to Wikipedia), the story follows Margaret, a woman who falls in love with William, who is, I shit you not, “a shape-shifting forest dweller.” Perhaps there’s something a bit warped about me, but I’m much more inclined to accept the wacky story about Rasputin than transforming satyrs. Anyway, the story goes on, as the “forest queen” becomes jealous. Apparently, a “murdering knave” also plays a part. All these various characters are each “played” by different singers, with Meloy himself singing as William and assorted female singers (including Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond) playing other parts. Still with me?
As I’m sure you can tell, this is a sprawling concept for an indie rock album. Even by the Decemberists usual lofty standards, this album is quite a piece of work. However, the album’s story tends to run off the tracks whenever Meloy sacrifices direct storytelling for whatever new piece of vocabulary he’s discovered. His love of words is positively palpable (“it proceeds you like a black smoke pall”). The story he’s trying to tell becomes lost is this maze of syntax and multi-syllabic words.
The music is very different from what the Decemberists' have recorded in the past. Instead of the wavering sea shanties they became famous for, the band have opted for a very strange hard-rock/folk sound for The Hazards Of Love. There’s some lovely acoustic guitar licks scattered throughout the album (“The Hazards Of Love 1” is a personal favorite), but they are few and far between. Thunderous electric guitar crunches appear much more frequently, often at strange, possibly inappropriate moments. Plus, being the rock opera it is, the album is filled with small motifs and riffs that recur again and again. While the concept is very ambitious, these small details don’t translate well. The listener is left wondering if they already heard each song earlier.
I can’t fault Meloy and the Decemberists for being ambitious, nor can I say this album is unexpected. It was just a matter of time before the hyper-literate Meloy tackled a full-fledged rock opera. Sadly, The Hazards Of Love never really clicks. A few songs, such as the stomping “The Rake’s Song”, show moments of genuine artistic inspiration, but most of the space on the album is taken up with songs just trying to move the sprawling narrative forward. They don’t get to simply exist as songs in their own right. Ultimately, The Hazards Of Love is heavy on concept, but tragically short on substance.
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