HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS

ROCK HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS The Decemberists Push The Envelope With New Concept Album The Decemberists got ambitious on their major-label debut, "The Crane Wife," released in 2006 by Capitol. "The Margarets and the Williams exist in too many folk songs to recount," he says. [...] they're all kind of the same character: a young person, desperately in need for love. [...] to what terrible things befall them, I thought, 'Why not make them exist through this narrative where they're all going through these events that happen in the folk songs, and see how they end up?' Fans got an early preview of the material in January when the band the offered a free download of The Rake's Song, and The Hazards of Love 1 is streaming on MySpace.