Preview: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love + MP3

The Rake's Song - MP3

The Decemberists are ready to drop their first album in three years, The Hazards of Love. The release date is a way's away however...March 24. Our friends at Capitol provided us with some insight into the scope of the upcoming record. For lack of a better term, the LP is going to be (unfortunately) labeled a "rock opera." It tells a story and while most seem turned off by such a release, we have been assured that it will be highly accessible and pretty great. Not to mention it has guest appearances from Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden, (Too many diamonds). Stay tuned for more.

Track list and a look into the record's thematic elements after the jump.




The track listing for The Hazards Of Love is as follows:

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

What is it about? Read the press release below.

"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” in the aforementioned “The Rake’s Song.” Lavender Diamond's Becky Stark and My Brightest Diamond's Shara Worden deliver the lead vocals for the female characters, while My Morning Jacket's Jim James, Robyn Hitchcock and the Spinanes' Rebbecca Gates appear in supporting roles. The range of sounds reflects the characters’ arcs, from the accordion’s singsong lilt in “Isn’t it a Lovely Night?” to the heavy metal thunder of “The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing.”"