Although best enjoyed in the context of the rest of the album, The Rake’s Song is a highlight from the 2009 release, ‘The Hazards of Love.’ The album is made up of interlinking tracks that create some Tim Burton-esque musical when pieced together, and ‘The Rake’s Song’ is a particularly macabre affair of marriage at twenty-one, starting a family and then losing your wife in child-birth and being lumbered with the kids. Happily enough, this leads to the murdering of said kids.
It also showcases the new ferocity to The Decemberists that has made the album such a delight since it was released. It’s a combination of their great but gruesome story-telling, and tells the back-story of the rest of the album. It’s a simple song, with a chorus essentially made out of the world ‘alright,’ but it’s very catchy, witty and fun, and is neatly backed by an aggressive array of strings and percussion. It should be enough to whet the appetite of those who are yet to indulge. The Decemberists just keep getting better and better.
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