March 24, 2009.
Is it possible that the top 3 albums of 2009 are all being released today? Well, it's not only possible, but at this point (admittedly only 1/4 of the way through the year), it's actually true.
The Hazards of Love is the 5th full-length from The Decemberists, and as someone who's loved this band since their stellar 2002 debut Castaways and Cutouts, I'd have to say this is the most ambitious effort from a truly ambitious band who continues to reinvent themselves successfully, album after album. The release is clearly a concept album, with all the songs telling a story on the same theme, and all the songs running into each other. I don't have a lyric sheet yet, and I'm sure they're probably as inscrutable as most Decemberists' records, but I am very curious to know what these wonderful songs are about. According to the Amazon writeup, 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, who recounts with spine-tingling ease how he came "to be living so easy and free."
A throwaway track called "Prelude" kicks off the 17 song album, followed by "The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won't Wrestle the Thistles Undone)", which will do nothing to curb detractors' claims of pretentiousness, but is a decent song. The album doesn't really kick in until the 4th track, though -- "Won't Want for Love" -- a sung song by one of the guest female vocalists on the album, Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden. The next track is "The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)" which is a brilliant blast of energetic crooning by Colin Meloy and builds to a long-awaited first climax of the album. Many more follow. Eighth track "The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid" is one of the most beautiful songs I've heard in a long time and the incredible chorus returns later, in tracks 15 and 16, "The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)". After an instrumental "Interlude", listeners are greeted with the lyrically brilliant "The Rake's Song" followed shortly thereafter by the hard rocking thunder of "Queen's Rebuke / The Crossing". The whole album ends with the tragic "The Hazards of Love (The Drowned)" a tortured dirge sung in Meloy's lilting quaver about the Margaret who is the title character of the story in album form. This is an album that begs to be heard in its entirety and that builds with each subsequent listen, two amazing things that help make this music an anomaly in the singles based iTunes era we are currently living. And I for one could not be more pleased. Just a wonderful, wonderful album.
Also releasing today is another album that is very much an "album," rather than a collection of singles, even though it was made by an indie rock "supergroup" with three different contributors/writers. Swan Lake came out with the slightly disjointed but wonderful Beast Moans over two years ago now, and have returned with a stronger, more cohesive effort that clearly will sit among my favorite albums of the year. Enemy Mine combines all the talents of Spencer Krug (Sunset Rubdown, Wolf Parade), Dan Bejar (Destroyer, The New Pornographers), and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes, Blackout Beach) in a wonderful array of weird, wild, and truly inspired music. Anyone who reads this blog knows how big a Spencer Krug fan I am, but his three tracks ("Paper Lace", "Settle on Your Skin", and "A Hand at Dusk") are no more brilliant than the rest of the album, which is a shock for me, and a testament to the performance of Bejar and especially Mercer, who never has sounded better, in my opinion. There are no weak spots on this album at all, from the opening "Spanish Gold, 2044" which sounds very much like a really good but subdued Frog Eyes track, to the closing "Warlock Psychologist" an epic effort written by Mercer that includes all three musicians, with Spencer hitting the climactic high notes in brilliant fashion. It's tough for me to even pick out my favorite songs on the album -- it begs to be listened to in its entirety, much like Hazards of Love. I will say that over time, my favorite song has switched from Spencer's "Paper Lace" to Bejar's beautiful ballad "Heartswarm" to the magical closer "Warlock Psychologist" to Spencer's static "Settle on Your Skin," which I love more and more on repeated listens. "A Hand at Dusk" is pretty damn awesome too, as is "Ballad Of a Swan Lake, Or Daniel's Song," which I'm including below, because I love the song (sung by Bejar) and because I lost a good friend named Daniel last week. Please go buy this album if you have a downloaded copy already. Jagjaguwar are some of the good guys, and the three singers in Swan Lake are the hardest working gentlemen in the business.
And last but not least, Mono have released their 5th full-length today, Hymn to the Immortal Wind, on Temporary Residence. I absolutely love everything these Japanese post-rockers put out, but this album ranks with You Are There and just below 2001 debut Under the Pipal Tree in their canon of great albums. It's more subdued and peaceful, with less dramatic flourishes than You Are There, but the sound works on this cohesive album nicely. "Ashes in the Snow", "Pure as Snow" and "Everlasting Light" are the standout tracks, the 1st, 4th, and 7th tracks on this 7 track collection, but truly, the whole album is excellent. If you like Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai and haven't heard this band, they are really just as good, and lately, putting out even better music.
Also new this week: Collector's Edition versions of Radiohead classics OK Computer, The Bends, and Pablo Honey, which are double CDs with mixes of album tracks, rarities, and demos. I have a feeling the band had nothing to do with these releases because I can't imagine them wanting to revisit Pablo Honey era music. Who would have ever thought that the singer crooning apparent one-hit wonder post modern song "Creep" would have turned out to be the most influential modern rock artist over the next decade and a half?
Enemy Mine is my number album so far this year, without doubt. It seems to have had mixed reviews, another sign that some critics just don't get it.
I love The Decemberists album as well. It's an astounding work of great complexity. The Pitchfork review was totally ridiculous. I think this album will easily make my top 5 for this year, as will the Neko Case, which I love also.
Posted by: wayne | March 24, 2009 at 04:56 PM
I watched Enemy Mine on TV last night. Louis Gossett Jr. and Dennis Quaid. Excellent.
Posted by: Zamis | March 24, 2009 at 08:14 PM
I'm surprised by the Pitchfork review. I just checked it out and I agree, they don't know what they're talking about.
And yes, Zamis, the new Swan Lake album was named after the movie.
Posted by: Bill | March 24, 2009 at 08:38 PM
Mono: great! I find excellent the track "Silent flight..."
Posted by: ottantacento | March 30, 2009 at 09:53 AM