The Decemberists Explore The Hazards of Love This March

Colin Meloy, Chris Funk and company, along with guest vocalists Becky Stark and Shara Worden will unveil the follow-up the NPR listener-voted Album of the Year of 2006, The Crane Wife on March 24 with Hazards of Love. Via their website, The Decembersits are also making “The Rake’s Song” available as a free download for those who need something to hold them over till March.

Of the album, frontman Colin Meloy stated, “There’s an odd bond between the music of the British folk revival and classic metal. A natural connection between, like, Fairport Convention and Black Sabbath – of course, Sandy Denny from Fairport even sang with Led Zeppelin on ‘The Battle of Evermore.’ I think there’s a shared sense of narrative and ambience, of moving beyond the first person in your writing. And I thought it would be interesting to mess around with that.”

Here are the Hazards of Love:

Prelude
The Hazards of Love 1 (The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle the Thistles Undone)
A Bower Scene
Won’t Want for Love (Margaret in the Taiga)
The Hazards of Love 2 (Wager All)
The Queen’s Approach
Isn’t it a Lovely Night?
The Wanting Comes in Waves / Repaid
An Interlude
The Rake’s Song
The Abduction of Margaret
The Queen’s Rebuke / The Crossing
Annan Water Margaret in Captivity
The Hazards of Love 3 (Revenge!)
The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)
The Hazards of Love 4 (The Drowned)