The Decemberists – The Hazards of Love

The hazards of love. Sort of like a modern day Wagner opera in the form of a full-length album – some would simply call it a concept album. The Hazards of Love was the album that followed the heavily loved by maaaaannnymany people, The Crane Wife, and it’s almost a near opposite of its predecessor. It’s a lot to take in, 17 songs long and an all-encompassing album, it’s very much invested in a strong story line that is almost symphonic in its presentation. Recurring melodies, themes, modes that parallel the mood, it was highly ambitious and for many it didn’t stick. I’d say it’s very great, just not as great as the two before it but gee, I can come back with more details another time, for now we can check out the four different hazards of love that they featured here.

The first part, The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone, is basically the introduction to the story and precursor to what your ears will be mostly presented with. The very first song is this massive instrumental and then this song appears with the singer’s moodily beautiful voice and the dripping guitar line. It sounds like a blend of Fleet Foxes and it’s just an adorning song, a light affair before the meaty substance hits.

The second part is a smooth, bossa nova almost, tender lullaby that starts off solemn, picks up some steam, rolls over and back to smooth again. This is Wager Again, where the guitar sparkles and the ultimate feel of the song is what pulls me in. It's compelling and sweet, the guitar sounds easy but its challenging and his lyrics of "take my hand and cradle it in yours" are unabashed. In between this second and the first were just two songs but they were far more intense, and here is just a small cry to the initial melody and storyline again. The hazards of love live here in a burning heart and the story is just picking up.

This part three, called Revenge!, really does a lot to the entirety of the song before it, it sort of lulls you in and then you get the same refrain from before at the very start of the revenge. Those same crashing drums and keyboards, and the melody from before about the waves coming in, suddenly, there’s a children’s choir singing the hazards of love. By this point you're fifteen songs in, very much indebted to the investment and there’s a children’s choir backed by at first a harpsichord-like keyboard, the second part that shrills with some strings and way more atmosphere, and a third part that thumps and rattles. The kids sing about death, love, poison, beating, religion, every other thing you wish your kids didn’t talk about. But there’s about ten songs that are before this hazard and so a lot has happened, including death and love and poison and well you know the rest. And Hell what do I know about kids, they just sound really awesome here.

The fourth part, The Drowned, is this utter slice of heaven. A sort of blissful country shuffle that sounds eerily familiar – like if I know a song from somewhere else about it – but it mostly rolls up and down the nearly six minutes it departs and it is just sublime. It’s really good because it maintains some of the refrain with the hazards of love calling out at the end, but it's this stone cold beast of a song where the country twang, the bass and then the strings all culminate for a very blissful release. The whole album plays out like a very dramatic, theatrical opera – and not so much like a cohesive album always – but it only gets better with each listen and it begs to be heard from front to end. And so it’s fitting to end with this song: it closes out the dramatics with a beautiful exposure of sounds. – Bryan

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife

So the story on this one is based around a Japanese myth, the crane wife. A gorgeous white crane appears at a man’s door with an arrow in its side. Nurturing it back to health, after a few days, he lets the bird go. A few days after that, a woman appears at his door, they soon fall in love and marry. Looking for means to make money, she promises to weave a gorgeous cloth that they can sell in the market as long as she can weave it in entire privacy. This continues and they get wealthy but eventually he peaks in on her one day and notices that she’s a crane who’s been pulling feathers from herself into the cloth, thus making it so beautiful. Upon seeing him, she turns into a crane and flies away…never to return. Take from that what you will, I have many countless interpretations but they’re pointless to share unless anyone actually cares; it’s a wonderful story really.

That’s what The Decemberists opted to conceptualize their 2006 album, The Crane Wife, around. The album’s filled with encompassing song suites that feature various shifts and moods. They’ve always been known as an intelligent band that weaves intricate stories around epic, progressive music that is always cycling through a myriad of waves. And while Picaresque is also stunning, The Crane Wife always hits home for me because of those aforementioned suites; here’s “The Island: Come and See/The Landlord's Daughter/You'll Not Feel…”



Though the entire album isn’t solely about the crane wife, the concept is felt all throughout. And the brilliant closure comes with “The Crane Wife, Pts. 1 & 2” and its soaring melody. It’s a heartfelt closer and a naturally illustrious depiction of the myth. I can definitely hear the picturesque sounds and even now, with their new album just out, The Crane Wife is still such a magnificent listen each time. – Bryan