As yet another school year drew to an end, an uncontrolled thirst for new music coursed through my veins and drove me to digest a significant number of the albums that had been released in 2009. There were a few that seized my attention, but none of them struck me as hard as The Decemberists’ “Hazards of Love” LP. This new album was a deviation not only from the group’s usual sound, but also from any genre of music that has ever hit the public ear. The Decemberists are renowned for their slow, bright melodies, but they avoid monotony because their songs (written by front man Conor Meloy) drift in and out of elaborate stories that evoke a wide spectrum of emotions. This new album brings along a new tale that spans across its seventeen tracks. Each track seems to cut off arbitrarily because the LP is actually one long song. The band uses unique sounds intermittently throughout the CD that derive from baroque, rock and folk styles of music. To diversify the seventeen-track song, Meloy and his fellow band members utilize vastly different tempos and volumes along with an unusual array of instruments to instill a sense of the emotional rollercoaster ride associated with a story. The plotline of the song is convoluted upon first listen, but after a few times through, the dark and ominous theme seems to present itself quite boldly. The band’s aspirations for the piece were for it to eventually become a musical, but since that never succeeded, the group channeled their creative talents towards using their live performances as an outlet to show people their newly found rock opera. To genuinely have a sense of what The Decemberists had in mind when they released this album, it is crucial to see them perform it live. Even though I commend the band for transcending any former standard of what a typical CD is supposed to be, it is also my biggest criticism. A live performance is an excellent complimentary force to any piece of recorded music, but neither is mutually exclusive and they should be able to stand alone as their own entities. At the live performance, the listener cannot help but be baffled by the seventeen oddly interwoven tracks until he eventually understands the band’s intention. I can attest for this personally because I had the opportunity to see them twice this past summer. My perception of the CD changed drastically after I walked away from the first performance because I went from being merely intrigued by the musical tale, to being absolutely enthralled and in love with it. If you are daring enough to try a piece of music that might not be in your range of familiarity or comfort, pick up the album on CD or vinyl when you get a chance. And if you do happen to get it, listen to it from start to finish, exactly the way they perform it at every venue on their current tour.
