Anyway.. I loved it but in the scheme of life and other things I sorta forgot about it. Always meaning to go back and explore the “Decemberists”. Id mention them in passing, the Magpie would pull it up on the iTouch and each time was a nudge to discover, but then, The new Weezer came out, theres shows to go to , people to interview and I have to plan a vegan thanksgiving oh and did I mention I’m in works busy season?
Anyway..
If fashion is seasonal than I think so is music. If autumn in New England wasn’t spooking enough a little Hazards of Love certainly mind trip you here.
Almost like a puritanical village filled with filthy cottons and children in baskets.. just weird. This band creates the strongest mental images I have ever encountered. What beautiful strings and mood. This band oozes mood.
I took a day trip to Boston a few weeks ago and finally found Newbury Comics (what the heck its on Newbury St, go figure) and stumbled across the disc Hazards of Love.
Prepped for a long drive home I made the purchase of this 17 track spin..expecting…Well, expecting more sounds of hot British boys in black liner and good boots.
What I encountered was way more than that.
I encountered what almost felt like a maze…a Victorian sounding dark womb of emotion. I’m not sure why its had such impact suppose life in general and the dark coolness of the world outside create this sort of….mood.
I seem stuck on that word because there is no other word that can explain how the Decemberists have stolen me. They have crawled into my brain like a band of gypsies with an open fire of warmth.
I’m afraid to search the meanings of this ongoing song saga. They roll together with the unifying theme, sung from many perspectives in different rhythms. Trilling chimes and interesting back beats, screaming and whispering and toiling. I don’t want to know. I thumbed briefly through the cd jacket, it looks like I felt. But I wont read the lyrics. Ill play it over and over and over and let it soak into me. To me its painting images of Salem Witch trials and cold bare branched trees. Of women in long dresses running through acres of past harvest fields..a swirl of danger, fear, lust, power, and rogue bravery.
And the best part of all of this is one day, maybe, I’ll go find out what this disc meant to its authors and performers. But today on this cold November night, I’m going to curl up with it and escape with a glass of merlot and a vivid impression of the story as it plays in my mind.
and the funniest part of it is that their not hot goth Brit boys at all
but rather a co-ed gaggle of 5+ artists from Portland Oregon…….go figure…