Review: The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love (2009)
The Hazards of Love is a dramaturgic pastiche of an album that chronicles the ill-fated love between Margaret, a young girl (voiced by Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond), and William, a forest dwelling shapeshifter (played by The Decemberists’ frontman Colin Meloy). Jealously naturally ensues on the part of the Queen, William’s mother (Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond), who introduces the point of conflict, and arguably dominates her cameos with a commanding presence.
“Prelude” is a fitting build to such an ambitious album, and it heads straight into “The Hazards of Love 1,” one of the album’s strongest tunes. “An Interlude” is beautiful and poignantly immediate, despite being instrumental. Many of the tracks have these kinds of titles, which is something The Decemberists know how to do really well.
There are numerous highlights, but overall the album actually suffers for what could (and should) have been its most impressive aspect. In order to truly hit the innovative mark, this album should have assumed a more dramatic approach. To qualify that: for The Decemberists to have released an album and have it described — in comparison to their previous albums, mind you — as theatrical, they would have needed to come out swinging, and hard. The Hazards of Love is The Decemberists’ first admitted concept album offering, but their ongoing embrace of antiquated modes of dress, general wayfaring and lovelorn lyrical content (they fit in “vexed” and “irascible”), and throwback instrumentation make this seem like just another addition to a lofty body of work that is already decidedly conceptual.
While Meloy and Worden trade howled stanzas admirably, the disjointed “The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid” breakdown riff feels repetitive and tacked-on, meanwhile “The Queen’s Approach” sounds like a tepid acoustic re-make of Jesus Jones’ “Right Here, Right Now.” Even the great songs bear little gripes: in “The Hazards of Love 1″ protagonist Margaret finds a wounded white cra…er, fawn, and attempts to right it. Seriously, how did Colin Meloy pen that with a straight face? Still worse, there are late-album throwaways like “Annan Water” and “Margaret In Captivity” that evidently only serve to flesh out the track list and album length, as there are next to no hooks or dynamic shifts in either.
Essentially, it’s a short supply of great ideas that fails to cover for a host of mediocre ones, and thus the album is lopsided and awkward. It somehow manages, as a concept album, to be less cohesive than The Crane Wife and everything before. Obviously, The Decemberists’ primary aesthetic — that of making their music generally vaudevillian and unspecifically literary — is lost here; it’s commendable in one sense, and damnable in another, because despite having followed through on the theme of the album, the execution falters often: the transitions are terse and uncreative, the characters drab, and the conflict unremarkable.
To have The Hazards of Love stand in sharp relief, they needed the kind of pyrotechnics that The Crane Wife‘s song cycle “The Island” brought. Where it does achieve the grandiose heights it was designed for (“The Song of The Rake,” “The Queen’s Rebuke / Crossing”), the band occasionally mistakes volume for depth. Many riffs are plain and gratuitous, further confirming that generally, the songwriting has suffered for the pursuit of a concept.
Make no mistake, Colin Meloy is still the charmer that he’s always been, the guests are sharp, and the band sounds like they’re having fun and playing tightly; The Hazards of Love is still an above-average record from a band well worth the listener’s time. It doesn’t, however, serve as a proper entry point to The Decemberists’ oeuvre. Once again, we find ourselves at the familiar junction of a band whose latest work is laudable and enjoyable, but not markedly memorable.
