With its double-digit track times and cryptic conceptual narrative, 2006’s The Crane Wife incited charges that Portland’s always arty Decemberists had finally, fully progged out. Though follow-up The Hazards of Love might appear, on the surface, to reverse that course—given running times that stay mostly in the two-to-five-minute range—it actually finds Colin Meloy and his merry band breaking out their 12-sided die to venture yet further into a sprawling fantasy forest, via an hour-long adventure that, despite its 17 separate “songs,” plays as one, mostly uninterrupted composition. Peters Gabriel and Townshend would be proud.
Sonically speaking, the best comparison might actually be to the wayfaring folk-rock of Fairport Convention, circa 1969, had Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny heard The Fiery Furnaces’ 2004 indie-prog masterwork Blueberry Boat and scurried into the studio to try and top it. The Decemberists’ storyline pits protagonists Margaret and her changeling lover William against an angry queen jealous of their affection ... or something like that. With these sorts of heavy concepts, it’s usually anyone’s guess what’s really happening, which is probably just as well.
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Musically, there’s also a ton to process, from dueling character voices (Meloy as William, My Brightest Diamond’s righteously sinister Shara Worden as the queen and Lavender Diamond’s gentler Becky Stark as Margaret) to recurring bits of melody (Tommy frequently comes to mind) to moods and tempos that careen wildly, often within a single movement (aka “track”).
So The Hazards of Love turns out to be a hazardous proposition itself, offering a multitude of ideas to embrace/reject. For every proggie who praises it as this generation’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, a disgruntled folkie will no doubt slag it as Peter and the Wolf on cannabis. And that should be more than enough to earn it a spot in any serious 2009 listening pile.
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