Album Review: Anais Mitchell - Hadestown

In Hadestown, Anais Mitchell has created something extremely special. It is a record that can, by definition, be described as both a concept album and a rock opera (though a folk opera may be more accurate). It does not slip easily, however, into these historically rather uneasy categorisations, but instead challenges them, endlessly blurring the lines between fact and fiction, myth and reality. The roots of folk music have always lain deeply entrenched in the rich earth of folklore and storytelling and here Mitchell, along with a little help from her talented friends, weaves a sophisticated narrative around a traditional Greek myth, somehow making the story her own in the process.

As a retelling of the classical Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, the artists become actors, sinking entirely in their roles, convincing throughout. The distinctive familiarity of voices such as Justin Vernon's comes as a shock at first, but his immediately recognisable vocals do not detract from the album's primary focus on storytelling. Similarly, Greg Brown's devilish croak instantly becomes that of Hades, the keeper of the Underworld, just as Ani DiFranco sings as his wife Persephone and Mitchell herself as the doomed lover Eurydice.

As a folk opera, Hadestown follows the myth to the letter, (a synopsis can be found here for those interested) and as such sweeps effortlessly between musical styles and instrumentation. Without once seeming trite or forced, the narrative progressives seamlessly from the haunting opener 'Wedding Song', where Vernon and Mitchell duet, before Eurydice begins her terrible journey to the Underworld, to the raucous, sizzling blues of 'Way Down Hadestown.'

What is remarkable about Hadestown, aside from its triumph as a modern piece of musical theatre, is that it manages to feel truly personal. At no point in the record does it feel like a soundtrack, or a performance. Mitchell's agnonised wail mourning the inevitable death of Orpheus in 'I Raise My Cup To Him' is not the calculated pitch of an actress, but the intimacy of real heartbreak.

Anais Mitchell and her collaborators have not only produced a fully coherent and beautiful piece of narrative music, but also one completely devoid of pretention, pomposity and self-indulgence - dangerous ground that concept albums can so easily stray into. It is thanks to both the album's subject matter and its solid position as a musical triumph that it is a timeless record and a joy to listen to.