At this point, The Decemberists were a folk-pop band with songs that were more thematically related than actual whole concepts. That is until 2009's Hazards of Love, an album that is polarizing in not only the public eye, but also within the band's own fan base. Personally, this was the very first Decemberists LP I bought; in fact, I bought it the day it came out, having only been a fan for a few months at that point I had no idea what to expect.
What I and many others got from this album is a mixture of confusion and surprise as much of what is presented at the start of this album is so odd for the band, it seemed as though they had lost themselves in their own ambition. To point to a single track, "A Bower Scene" kicks into thundering guitar riffs that sound more akin to metal music than a Decemberists album, and the following track introduces even more electric guitar riffing.
At first, I felt kind of disappointed with this album; where were the catchy, up-beat songs like "Sporting Life" or the slightly dark, but still quirky tunes like "July, July"? Why was the band acting so darn serious? And what on earth are these lyrics about?
Ahh, the dangers of expectation. Sure, moments like the ones mentioned above aren't apparent from the first listen, but they do in fact exist on Hazards of Love. For instance, what is easily the most beloved cut from the LP "The Rake's Song" is a morbidly dark, yet oddly endearing song about a father who, being a widower after the birth of his last child, decides it best to kill all three of his children in a number of gruesome ways... not exactly what you would expect from the band that wrote such goofy tracks like "Chimbley Sweep" eh?
All of that aside, I actually think this album is great. Yeah, it's not the bands strongest set of songs, but I think it is easily their most cohesive, as only a couple of the songs here work outside of the context of a full album listen, yet when listened to properly, the tracks here all build to a successful whole. Not to mention the shear ambition of putting an album like this out after the commercial success of The Crane Wife; gotta give the band credit for not resting on their laurels.
I know that this album is considered the band's worst, and I can understand that stance, partially because I agree to an extent. However, to call this album bad music is just silly, because the tunes here are still good, they just require a bit more attention to extract the marrow of enjoyment.
Maybe not the best album to start with from the band, but definitely one worth checking out.
8.5/10
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