I've been obsessing over this album for the past week. For those that don't know, the Decemberists are this sort of 60's rock revival Indie Rock band. Until now, they've been a sort of nondescript band, besides their previous album, The Crane Wife, which was pretty good. This new album which was just released within the last month or two, is called the Hazards of Love. It's basically a concept album that's telling this fairytale that they wrote.
The basis of the story is that there's this girl, who lost in the woods, finds this wounded fawn. She cares for the fawn and brings him back to health. Come the night, the fawn turns into a man who thanks her for healing him. They fall in love, and they make love together. The shapeshifting man's mother, who found him abandoned and gave him the form of a fawn by day, was outraged by this, and would not have him being in a relationship. So in exchange, the guy agrees to spend one last night with her, and then he would never speak to her again. However, their night is interupted when the girl is abducted by a villian called the rake, who killed his three daughters after his wife died in child birth. The man now ventures to save him, but encounters a huge rushing river, what would kill him if he crosses. So he sells his soul to the river, so he is allowed to cross, and when he returns, he agrees for the river him to swallow him whole on his return. The mother, finding out what happenned, causes the ghosts of the three dead daughters to rise and attack the rake. They kill him, just in time for the man to arrive to save his love. They are then reunited, and die together in the river, existing eternally in love spiritually through the river.
Give it a listen, it's currently streaming here:
http://music-mix.ew.com/2009/03/decemberists-st.html
It's available on itunes if you want to get it. It's well worth it in my opinion for those that are into 60's folk rock and 70's progressive rock.
sounds like perfect music that would be in one of your maps dann.