The Decemberists release their much anticipated concept album The Hazards of Love this month. Never willing to conform to mainstream music and never ceasing to suprise and amaze their fans, this newest album is no exception. Produced by Tucker Martine, the album stars members of My Brightest Diamond and Lavender Diamond as the female leads with the Decemberists' own Colin Meloy as the lead male characters. Hazards tells the tale of the fair Margaret and her forest encounter with a shape-shifting creature. Of course, drama ensues. The story can be hard-to-follow at points and it will most likely take a few listens to fully absorb the plot. But what it lacks in storytelling clarity, it more than makes up for in the orchestration and vocals. Don't even think about skipping a track -- the songs transition seamlessly into each other and it is hard to tell where one ends and the next begins without glancing at the track number. The album begins quietly as the "Prelude" slowly fades in. The actual story begins in the second (and longest titled) track, "The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistle Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)". Oh yeah, as is expected from the Decemberists with their literary language, there are plenty of words not typically found in songs on your iPod. Anyone used "cistern" or "vexed" in conversation recently? Not me. The album delivers some of it's most dramatic moments in "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid" and "The Queen's Rebuke", which both feature My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden as the queen. "The Rake's Song", the first single released in January, is the most typically Decemberist-esque of the album as it casts light on the darkly cynical Rake character, played by Meloy. In short, The Hazards of Love may not be quite as epic as one would have hoped, but it is entertaining and satisfies the need for new music from the band. And at least for the first listen, do yourself a favour and just sit back and experience the album in it's entirety.
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