Record Review: The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love

By Daniel Greenwood
Release Date: 17/03/2009
Ragged Rating: *** (3/5)
In Three Ragged Words: Metal? What metal?

Up until this point in The Decemberists’ career, Colin Meloy has contained his storytelling into sole songs that are tied together by themes of self-deprecation and melancholia. The results are devastating. Picaresque, released in 2005, was the breakthrough record for the Portland-based band. It’s a record packed with miniature epics that work like short stories and, up until now, Meloy could be seen as a high calibre short story writer presenting his work in song. ‘On the Bus Mall’ is the tale of young prostitutes that ‘fuse together like a family’, while ‘The Engine Driver’ is the lament of someone unloved and strung along: “And if you don’t love me, let me go”. Castaways and Cutouts (2002) is perhaps The Decemberists’ lesser-known release and remains a well-kept secret. It finishes with ‘California One/Youth and Beauty Parade’ as Meloy calls upon all the urchins of society to join the toast of the town, to rejoice in their bedwetting and pick-pocketing.

The characters Meloy creates are forgotten souls, like ‘Eli, the Barrow Boy’: “dressed all in corduroy he had drowned in the river down the way”. Meloy’s narrator embodies the forgotten, reflecting like a ghoul upon the tragedy that has come before; or else he’ll narrate as an outsider, a feeling unfamiliar to the listener. The Decemberists’ music is tuneful and inviting, and before The Crane Wife (2007) it was hard not to love this band. In 2007 there were signs that Meloy’s songwriting was moving towards epic musicianship (two songs surpass the eleven-minute mark) overlooking the mini-epiphanies that define The Decemberists’ earlier work.

So here comes The Hazards of Love, a 17-part tragic romance hyped for its genre hopping from folk-pop all the way over to metal. There are chomping power-chords to be found, as on ‘The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing’ but metal it ain’t. It feels more like sea shanty-rock, an evolution of The Decemberists’ previous allusions to pirate-pop. The ‘metal’ is sparse enough, but the teeth crunching guitars feel a little unsavoury. Still, the impression remains that a record aiming for this sort of theatricality needs something pantomime ugly. It’s not unlikely that this new direction for the band will have fans of old chewing their bottom lip in confusion, and if you don’t enjoy the guest vocals (Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond as our heroine, Margaret, and Shara Worden of My Brightest Diamond as the Queen) early on in the album’s lifespan, you probably won’t like them at all.

There are moments of Meloy magic to be had here however, ‘The Drowned’ is the curtain falling on the album, albeit a curtain clawed down by the waves that ‘bear witness’ to our hero and heroine wedded beneath the rushing waters. It’s the saddest song Meloy’s written since ‘On the Bus Mall’ and it’s a suitable finale to a successful decade for this Portland-based band. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come. May their next project find Meloy crushing listeners with the calibre of ‘The Drowned’, because it feels like all Hazards really needs to say is in this one last song. For now though, The Decemberists have every right to experiment.

Live Review: Papercuts @ the Legion, Old Street

via Ragged Words
By Daniel Greenwood

A recent Sunday Times Culture article heralded the return of shoegaze, a genre supposedly pioneered by My Bloody Valentine’s superlative album Loveless. According the article’s author Paul Lester, the influence of the aforementioned Dubliners can be seen in artists like Deerhunter, Sigur Ros, and Lily Allen. And tonight’s show in Old Street’s swanked-out the Legion is organised by Sonic Cathedral, a record label run by music journalist Nathanial Cramp, the sweetheart of Lester’s Times article. But there’s one problem, none of the bands performing here tonight are ‘shoegaze’.

Trailer Trash Tracys open the show with a pleasant sound that doesn’t suggest anything beyond the oblong shape of the venue, and certainly nothing on the scale of a cathedral. This band sound more like fans of the Crystals than Slowdive, in fact, there’s barely anything shoegazey about this band. The same can be said for It Hugs Back, who take an age to start their set, a wait that seems unworthy. IHB have recently released their debut record, and if they’re looking to ship units they’ll need to do better than this. Perhaps you could argue the band are using delay pedals so call it shoegaze if you will, but it’s more pint-gaze. There’s an element of the mundane about their performance, dragging on into the evening, it’s inoffensive and unconvincing.

Papercuts’ maestro Jason Quever has been busying around the venue all night, scribbling in his notebook and supping glasses of red wine. And as the band finally kick things off, he’s in good spirits. Papercuts write love songs, Can’t Go Back (2007) is a superb break-up record, but only ‘Dear Employee’ and ‘John Brown’ make it out tonight. There are calls for ‘Unavailable’, and this reviewer whimpers pleadingly for ‘Summer Long’. But this particular tour is in aid of Papercuts’ fine new record You Can Have What You Want, what Ragged Words’ own Tim Groenland rightfully calls one of this year’s sunniest. ‘The Machine Will Tell Us So’ and ‘Once We Walked in the Sunlight’ are nailed by the band, though at times hindered by a mix that needs the bass turned down. Quever returns for a drab solo performance, ignoring calls for crowd favourites, and it’s a meek end to a rather disjointed evening for all concerned.

Match Preview: Everton vs. Wigan

via The Guardian
by Daniel Greenwood, Observer reader

When Everton were knocked out of the Uefa cup in September, the prospects for the season were grim. Though I never felt we had the financial clout to uproot any of the Sky-four, a battle for European football is now familiar to us Blues. But, as ever, Moyes has pulled it off. Playing a group of fixtures including Liverpool three times and Arsenal and United in close proximity gave Everton the thirst for the challenge. And now we face a Wigan side looking to steal our spot. The task for any team beneath the top four is to keep an eye over your shoulder, but Moyes also knows that a one-game-at-a-time philosophy breeds success, and believe me, if anyone else knows how to get Champions' League football, it's the Stoic Scot. And so we look to beat Wigan and achieve what in September looked so unlikely – a return to the top six.

Due a big game: Jô – The Brazilian has impressed with his positive forward play, but his sour time at City has put his progress back by several months.