The Decemberists - Hazards of Love

The Decemberists’ recently released album, The Hazards of Love, is a concept album with a very wide range of sounds and a very thick plot behind it. It is based loosely on Anne Brigg's 1966 EP, also entitled The Hazards of Love. The story is of Margaret and William, who are lovers trying to find each other throughout the album but are stifled by an abductor and an evil Queen.

The Hazards of Love starts out with a prelude, solely comprised of a very mellow organ piece. The prelude flawlessly melds into the next song, “The Hazards of Love I,” setting up the character William and his love for Margaret. This song is also quite mellow, containing lyrics and acoustic guitar accompaniment only. “A Bower Scene” speeds up the pace quite a bit and kicks the distortion into gear, at times even getting really sludgy. “Won't Want for Love” adds piano, and is where we first hear the voice of lovely Margaret. The previous two songs have served to set up her character. “The Hazards of Love II” returns again to a slow acoustic piece, starring William. He responds to Margaret's call for love in the previous song with romantic lyrics such as “I lay you down / in clover bed / the stars a roof / above our heads.” “The Queen's Approach” weighs in at only twenty-nine seconds, but with it's melancholy banjo riff, conveys the emotion of the piece quite well. “Isn't it a Lovely Night” is quite an upbeat tune that combines a slow beat, and beautiful accordion with the vocals of both William and Margaret in duet. “The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid” introduces vocally the Queen who approached earlier. She is every bit as beautifully voiced and vitriolic as the hint we were given. Here we also hear William begging her, to let him out to find his love.

A slow acoustic interlude now takes places, and separates the story into two pieces. “The Rake's Song” is masked by quite a simple instrumental, invoking a sort of menacing feel. To truly listen to the lyrics though is to understand the magnitude of it all; “The Rake's Song” tells the story of our new character. This man killed all of his children after his wife died while giving birth. Don't worry though, it doesn't bother him: “And that's how I came your humble narrator / to be living so easy and free / expect you think that I should be haunted / but it never really bothers me.” “The Abduction of Margaret” is musically very similar to “A Bower Scene”, but a bit more anxious. This song however involves the abduction of our female star from earlier in “Won't Want for Love.” The abductor is no other than the vile Rake. “The Abduction of Margaret” runs into “The Queen's Rebuke/The Crossing” with the same instrumentals but the Queen is now speaking. The lyrics tell the Queen's mastery of her domain, the forest. The song also tells of the beginnings of her son. Toward the end of the song there is a fantastic organ solo. “Annan Water” is another heavily acoustic piece. However, it includes an eerie ambient presence of morphing keyboard in the background, giving it a sense of urgency. Halfway through and at the very end of the song the guitar fades to give way to the eerie keyboard, along with William's voice begging the Annan Waters to part for him: “But if you cull / and let me pass / you may render me a wreck / when I come back .” Again we see Margaret in “Margaret's Captivity.” In this song there is a dialog between Margaret and the Rake. The purity of Margaret's voice is captured in the organs accompanying her vocals. “The Hazards of Love III” brings the murdered children of the Rake back from the dead, in an eerie chorus of children's vocals. Each of the three murders from “The Rake's Song” is elaborated upon and the children declare they have returned and seemingly claim revenge. “The Wanting Comes in Waves” is reprised after “The Hazards of Love III.” It is quite ironic for it to come here before “The Hazards of Love IV” because in this song, Margaret and William are finally united, in the waves. The love story ends very powerfully: “These hazards of love, never more will trouble us.”