Collegiate Times

Review of "Hazards of Love"

Tom's Take

I can't think of an album in the recent past that I've critically struggled with as much as the latest Decemberists' effort, "Hazards of Love." Unable to decide between fumbling rock opera and independent moments of aural beauty, the band never quite gets the album to mesh completely as a whole. This means that independently each track manages to seem schizophrenic and unwieldy at the same time. The opening track "Prelude" is a good indicator for the rest of the record - three minutes of near silence that gives way to "Hazards of Love 1." Yes, there are several of them, the first brimming with preponderance that doesn't stop coming.

Maybe the trouble is that instead of just focusing on a record that's a solid collection of songs, The Decemberists have attempted to create an epic musical narrative that's full of dead ends. This is a struggle for the listener because instead of getting a grasp on the story the band would like to create, you end up frustrated by the direction of the concept. However for all its forced pretension, story and character concept there are still genuine songs on the record. "Isn't It A Lovely Night?" succeeds on the twang of its guitars, the tone of its accordion and the feeling of its gentle vocal duet. It feels like a breath of fresh air in the middle of a contrite effort by the band. Though it's a drowsy and easy-sounding tune, at least it stands on its own without the rest of the trappings of the album.

The same can't be said for a lot of the tracks found on this disc. Perhaps the track that best embodies the album is "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid," which starts off as a plaintive funeral dirge that hits predictably anthem-ic heights, then reverts to an attractively simple guitar riff. All the moments that are supposed to be showstoppers on the record are undercut by the less elaborate ones. A pleasing chord progression works in the favor of this record much more than hollow production.

There's a difference between attempting to capture a sound and being unnecessarily elaborate, one that The Decemberists need to figure out. The album isn't a noisy one; there just seems to be an incorrigible dissonance between the feel of the music and the production it has been layered on. For something so produced, the entirety of "Hazards" is a snooze fest. It isn't until "The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)" where it feels like the music snaps out of it and gains some semblance of energy, but by this point not even a children's choir over a carnival keyboard can save The Decemberists.

For previous fans of The Decemberists, "Hazards of Love" might warrant an outing. For everyone else it'd be better to let this band believe in their fantasy land of grandeur, as long as they spare us another effort.