Album review: The Decemberists

review by Eric Nguyen

When I saw the Decemberists at this year’s Sasquatch Music Festival, their set consisted of their new album The Hazards of Love, played through in its entirety. It worked incredibly well. The album was designed from the start to be a ‘rock opera,’ which involves a coherent story, themes, and characters that remain the same throughout multiple songs. In this respect the Decemberists were quite successful; however, when listened to alone (or on shuffle) these songs seem out of place. Although they sound fine, many of the songs’ appeal lies in how well they tie in with the rest of the album.

The story is rather simple, and takes the form of a tragedy. In short, a princess meets a woodland shapeshifter and falls in love, but unfortunately things go wrong and they end up drowning in a ship while professing their love to one another. It’s quite predictable to anyone familiar with the Decemberists’ earlier work, but the detail and nuance of the lyrics keeps things interesting. The songs are chock-full of clever rhymes and wordplay, which, if you feel like listening closely, can really add to the experience of listening to the album. This is best heard in “The Rake’s Song,” an autobiographical story of an immoral man who murdered his children upon becoming a widower. It’s not every day that murder via foxglove shows up in song lyrics, but here it works magnificently. The song ends with a note of foreshadowing what will happen to this character later in the album, the kind of surprising detail that only the careful listener would notice.

The instrumentation on the album is also great, albeit a bit different than Decemberists songs of the past. Listen to, for example, the theme introduced on “The Wanting Comes In Waves”—it sounds more like it belongs in a metal song than in something performed by the Decemberists. However, the band is surprisingly good at it (especially in concert). There’s also plenty of normal Decemberists folk rock. In particular, the “Hazards of Love” tracks (1-4) are a very good listen. Musically, they’re very similar to the “Crane Wife” tracks from the earlier Decemberists album of the same name, full of acoustic guitar and lead singer Colin Meloy’s voice. These songs belong very solidly in the folk category, and they’re a pleasant change of pace from the heavier sections of music. Especially recommended is Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All), which is quite the love song.

The Decemberists’ tour of the US is ongoing until October, mainly in the eastern half of the US, so if you’re reading this there’s a decent chance that there may be a concert near you this year. If so, definitely go. Part of their set should be the whole Hazards of Love album, and if it’s anything like when I heard it, it should be excellent. Even for those familiar with the music, seeing the singers on stage is enough to bring attention to the finer details of the music that got overshadowed in the album mix. In fact, it would be safe to say that my opinion of the album went up after hearing it live.

Even if your chance to see a Decemberists concert has passed, however, The Hazards of Love is still worth a listen. It’s a solid effort that manages to come up with a couple songs that will probably end up on your shuffle playlist. Even for those who didn’t consider yourselves Decemberists fans before, there’s a decent chance that a song or two might appeal to you here.

The Hazards of Love by The Decemberists is currently available in iTunes.