The Decemberists 'The Hazards of Love'

Not cool. Not cool at all. A concept album...recorded as one continuous piece of music....about a couple of starcrossed lovers and a shape-shifting beast...with musical echoes of 70s prog, Queen at their most bombastic and the musicals of Andrew Lloyd-Webber...in 2009?? Got to be a load of old rubbish, right?

Well, you'd think so, wouldn't you? Instead, the Decemberists' new album is the most joyful, cinematic and rich musical experience of the year so far. It is so brilliant it has left T&G open-mouthed, thinking EVERYTHING WE KNOW IS WRONG.

Lets get the story out of the way first. Get used to the fact that it is going to take you several (and I mean more than 10) listens and a few reads of the lyric sheet before you work out what on Earth is going on. Its all quite complicated and it doesn't help matters that Colin Meloy sings more than one of the record's 'characters'. Put simply, The Hazards Of Love tells the tale of a woman named Margaret who is ravaged by a shape-shifting animal; her lover, William; a forest queen; and a cold-blooded, lascivious rake. After that, to be honest, its anyone's guess. There are some unpleasant incidents, some pretty moments and a clearly defined ending (which I won't spoil here for anyone who plans on following the story like a film arc) but since few people (apart from our shape-shifting readers) are likely to relate to much of it, you can treat the record as an hour of pure escapism, a dazzling symphony.

Along the way, you'll find tender love songs like the exquisite 'Isn't It A Lovely Night?', complex 'Paranoid Android' style epics like 'The Wanting Comes in Waves' and almost heavy-metal style rockers like 'The Queen's Rebuke'. A special mention has to go to 'The Rake's Song', a hedonistic blast with some hilarious lyrics which Meloy sings with relish and glee. This is one long piece of music though, so it makes countless twists and turns with key melodies recurring. Almost every instrument known to man (or shape-shifter) is played, with swooning strings, weaving acoustic guitar and some monumental electric guitar riffs.

This is a lot of fun and pretty addictive. Anyone who had a prog-rock phase when they were younger, or once dabbled with 'A Night At the Opera'....or secretly loves 'The Phantom of The Opera' is going to get a kick out of 'The Hazards Of Love'. This is beautiful, well written and perfectly played music too. It doesn't get much better than this...except perhaps seeing them perform the whole thing from start to finish in concert. Which is precisely what they are doing across the U.S at the moment. Roll on, UK dates.

Let yourself love this. Album of the year so far!

9.4

['The Hazards of Love' is out now on cd/lp/digital]