the decemberists

The Decemberists' The Hazards of Love is a musical trapped inside a rock album-part narrative, part prog-folk and all quirkiness.

The Portland band's fifth album tells the story of two lovers, Margaret (Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark) and William (lead singer Colin Meloy). Margaret, who has discovered that she is pregnant, goes into the forest to find William, but their happily-ever-after ending is threatened by the emergence of a murdering knave and a jealous forest queen (My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden).

Though Meloy voices multiple characters, the progression of both the story and the characters' emotions could not be clearer. The second song, "Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)," the first of four "The Hazards of Love" songs, is a satisfactory introduction to the plot, while "The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)" captures the longing between the two lovers.

From here, the love story becomes more twisted. In "The Wanting Comes in Waves/Repaid," Meloy opens in a pained and pleading tone that crescendos into a heavier rock beat as Worden wails, "How I made you, I wrought you, I pulled you/ from ore I labored you/ from cancer I cradled you/ And now, this is how I am repaid." But its "The Rake's Song," a darkly humorous memoir of infanticide, that ironically best illustrates The Decemberists' wit, with lines like, "No more a rake and no more a bachelor/ I was wedded and it whetted my thirst/ Until her womb start spilling out babies/ Only then did I reckon my curse."

Ultimately, The Hazards of Love is made for the stage, and no matter how many times the album is played, there remains the unshakeable feeling that it will only be fully appreciated if seen live and performed in full. When taken independently of one another, the songs are undeniably solid-remaining very much faithful to the Decemberists' characteristic prog-rock sound, with a heavy dose of strings. But much of the album's beauty is in its seamless flow from one track to the other, and the songs' individual contributions rest in their wordplay. Like a musical, every detail has been staged, and the effort pays off.