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Artists, Reviews, The Decemberists

The Decemberists – Hazards of Love album review

By Sam

I’m a little late in writing this review (the album came out 2 months ago), but I’m glad I waited. Upon my first, second and even third listen-though, I was less than enthralled with the latest effort from the sea-chanty-spouting indie darlings, The Decemberists. The album came across as a muddled mixture of frantic acoustic guitar picking and awkward lyrics about babies, magic and sex in the woods.

Hazards of Love is a concept album that (in a nutshell) tells the story of a woodland Fawn who falls in love, only to have a jealous magical Queen of the woods betray him and attempt to kill his lover. The story is rather complex, and without knowing at least a basic synopsis, listeners may be completely lost during the first few times through the album. With so many characters to voice, the record boasts some impressive guest singers (Ex: Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond voices Margaret, the object of the Fawn’s affection).

The overall impression that I was left with was that Hazards was nothing but the overblown masturbatory fantasy of lead singer/songwriter Colin Meloy and whatever special guests he could pay with his undoubtedly impressive Capitol Records budget.

Because as we all know, the Decemberists SUCK because they are signed to mega-evil Capitol Records, right? Right?!

Everybody who bought Hazards (….or downloaded it) and thought the same as me needs to take a deep breath, shut off all distractions and spin the record again. Forget about the label, the reputation, and everything you know about this band. Empty your head. Don’t think of anything but the music that you are hearing, and the story that is being expertly sketched in front of you. This is what I had to do, and when I did that something happened. Something incredible.

Not only did I come around to this album, but it also literally knocked me over. By the time it got around to the climactic scenes near the end, I was so deep into the story that every line seemed to pierce into me–particularly the sorrowful howling of Stark in “Margaret in Captivity”. The album takes its time, pacing itself at moments when Meloy wants to show time passing within the story line, represented by instrumental tracks like the gorgeous “An Interlude” which occurs about halfway through the record. This is not a record that you can easily toss in and skip around, listening only to your favourite tracks. That is the brilliant trick of this album, but its also what makes it so hard to absorb–to get the full impact, it must be listened to from start to finish.

Much in the same vein as an opera or a modern musical, motifs are presented, restated, then altered. Sometimes these motifs are purely musical. For example, the evil characters (The Rake, the Queen, Margaret’s Father) are always featured alongside thick electric guitar riffs, which are never heard when the Fawn is present. Thematic motifs– like waves, which play a large part in the story’s imagery–are also presented throughout. “Wanting Comes in Waves” is one of the disc’s stand-out tracks, and portions of it are reprised no less than three times over the course of the album.

If I have one major qualm with this album it’s that it is mixed exactly like a boring, big-budget studio album. Some of the moments which should sound gigantic, raw, and dramatic come across as flat. Moments of extreme tension or crescendo seem to be offset by the fact that, for the most part, the album sounds as though its being held at the same volume no matter what is occurring in the music. The drums in particular are mixed completely level with each other and everything else, which means that often times they are either too loud or too quiet depending on the mood of the song. But for this, more blame is to be laid on producer Tucker Martine than on the band.

Hazards of Love is a beautifully told story. If you invest the time to get to know it, you may find yourself truly captivated (and a little heartbroken) when it all comes to an end. The songs are written with a great deal of care and thought; it’s clear that Meloy and crew took their time and attempted to make a record that would slowly unveil itself to the listener. Although it is not perfect and will not likely go down in history as a revolution in operatic indie-rock, there is something gentle, deeply sorrowful, and stirring about this effort.

4/5

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