THE DECEMBERISTS - “THE HAZARDS OF LOVE”

THE DECEMBERISTS —“THE HAZARDS OF LOVE”

Colin Meloy is perhaps our most literate indie-rocker (albeit now on a major label) extant today. Meloy likes to write involved, interweaving plotlines that stretch from one song to the next—mini rock-operas, if you will. But with The Hazards Of Love, he has gone whole-hog, creating a complete musical novella basically from scratch. Inspired by the title of an EP (but no actual song) by sixties English folkie Annie Briggs, The Hazards Of Love tells the “fairy tale” of Margaret, her shape-shifter lover, and the menagerie she meets throughout her travels and travails. More lyrically and musically elaborate than the Decemberists’ previous opus, The Crane Wife (itself based on a Japanese folk-tale), this may qualify as the most conceptually complex rock album of the year. “Grandiose,” “ambitious,” and “daunting” are three appropriate words for this album, but an equally appropriate descriptor would be “rewarding”. Musically, the album sweeps in church-like organs, slide and acoustic guitars, accordions, orchestral passages, and ancient sounding stringed instruments of various types to convey it’s almost medieval tale, complete with guest vocalists (Becky Sharp of Lavendar Diamond, Rebecca Gates of the Spinanes, Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond) taking various turns as characters in the drama. However, balancing out this largely folk-based approach, the Decemberists deploy real rock power, with loud, crashing guitars and heavy, up-front drum beats that tie into the folk-based musings. Meloy said that he wanted to link British folk with heavy metal, and he has succeeded. Those who love either of these two genres to the exclusion of the other may be put off by band’s interweaving approach (e.g., the title song), but for those of us who simply love good, inventive music, there is much to savor. Whether it be how the heavy prog-rock instrumental passages of “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing” resolve into the acoustic hurdy-gurdy folk of “Anaan Water,” or how “A Bower Scene” places crashing drums and powerful guitars amidst folky passages employing simply voice and a two-note guitar hook, the musical inventiveness of the group is on display throughout. As the album fades out with Meloy’s plaintive voice framed by acoustic and lap-steel guitars along with strings and a gorgeous melody, the listener almost forgets where the journey started, and may feel compelled to return to the beginning. Few albums possess this quality. Fewer still pull it off in such grand fashion.

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