I Can Kill You With My Brain

A Second Look: The Hazards of Love

I gave The Hazards of Love, the new album from The Decemberists, a second spin yesterday afternoon and now I need to retract something I said in yesterday’s Gut Reaction Review of it.  That’s why it’s called a Gut Reaction Review, right folks?

In the GRR of the album, I stated that the last few songs were a bit slower than I expected, which lead to me daydreaming during them.  While I may have been daydreaming during them, it’s not the fault of the songs.  While the very final track is a slower number, the two before it are anything but that.  Both of those songs move along at a pretty good pace and have some toe-tapping riffs in them.  In fact, “The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)” has a wonderful sing-along version of the album’s “chorus” as sung by a children’s choir and backed by some sparse electronic sounds.  You can’t help but be singing and nodding along with it.  In hind-sight, I think I was distracted by the increased traffic as I approached my office and was not paying close attention to the music.  I mistakenly attributed this lack of interest to the style of the last few songs, but that’s clearly not the case.  The album finishes very strong.

Gut Reaction Review - The Hazards of Love

Yesterday saw the iTunes pre-release (and Limited Edition LP to select indie retailers) of The Hazards of Love, the new album from The Decemberists.  The wide release of the CD to other retail outlets and other digital services will be next Tuesday, March 24th, 2009.

The album is a concept album telling the love story of William, a shape-shifting forest dweller, and Margaret, a woman from a city near the forest.  Their love is threatened by the jealous Forest Queen and a murdering knave.  William is voiced in song by lead singer Colin Meloy, Margaret is voiced by Lavender Diamond’s Becky Stark, and the Forest Queen is voiced by My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden. (source: Wikipedia)

The Decemberists’s albums are always beautiful and The Hazards of Love is no different in this respect.  The soft and flowing string arrangements transition effortlessly into and out of the albums more rock-inspired moments.  The balance between electric and acoustic instruments is simply amazing.  A stand-out track for me is “The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid”, which not only showcases this balance, but features the arrival of Shara Worden’s mesmerizing voice.  It should be noted that I’m a huge fan of Shara’s, so I may be a bit biased towards this track.

The Hazards of Love really does feel more like a story than a traditional album.  I found myself very closely listening to the lyrics so I could follow William and Margaret’s struggle with the Forest Queen.  Usually I don’t pay close attention to the lyrics until my second or third listen to an album.  I typically spend my first few listens getting drawn in by rhythms and riffs, but the lyrics here are impossible to ignore.

My only complaint after listening to the disc for the first time is that the rock elements seem to disappear almost completely in the last few songs.  This may be necessary to complete the story, but it did lead to me daydreaming a bit.  The songs are not bad, just a bit slower than I was expecting.  Knowing this now, I will probably pay a bit closer attention to them the next time I listen to the album.

The Decemberists return strong with the stunning The Hazards of Love.  I’m concerned the album may be a bit difficult for some to get into, as it’s best enjoyed as one long song, as opposed to more traditional singles.  Still, it is an experience that any fan of music should listen to at least once.  I can’t wait to listen to it again.  I’m also even more excited for The Decemberists concert I will be attending at the end of May, as the band has announced that it will perform the album in its entirety with Becky Stark and Shara Worden reprising their roles as Margaret and the Forest Queen.

A Gut Reaction Review is a review that I write immediately after taking something in for the first time.  I haven’t had too much time to think about it, but instead am just writing my initial gut reaction.