The Dear Hunter’s 2009 release “Act III: Life and Death” is a harrowing and dark continuation from their last album “Act II: The Meaning of, and All Things Regarding Ms. Leading.”
Each act is a separate part of a six-act story following the life of the main character, simply named by the band as “The Boy.”
Act II begins with the death of The Boy’s mother, a prostitute named Ms. Terri, and tells the story of him returning to the brothel she worked in to find out about her life.
During the excursion, he meets and falls in love with a madam named Ms. Leading. The album accentuates and focuses on the affair and the internal conflict The Boy has with his feelings for Ms. Leading and the knowledge of her profession and ends with The Boy, broken-hearted, leaving town on a train.
With song titles such as “The Tank,” “Go Get Your Gun” and “Mustard Gas,” the Act III alludes to The Boy going to fight in an unnamed, early century war.
The album follows him through journeys of personal and external turmoil and describes the fear of war’s vicious onslaught and the main character’s emotional torments with women as mentioned in “He Said He Had a Story.”
The song is about his encounter with a prostitute and the relationship between a madam and her john.
The album ends with a head hung low in the album’s title track “Life and Death.”
“One of these days he will learn to love again,” is a lyric that the album closes with and is indicative of The Boy’s trouble with love and unresolved feelings left over from the last album.
“Act III: Life and Death” carries on from the previous release with heavier texture and a darker timbre. The musical arrangements are more orchestral and symphonic this time, and the vocal harmonies are much more layered, even haunting.
Listening to this record at night is like taking a walk through a deserted and broken-down early 20th century carnival where the rides seem to move on their own and each step taken is punctuated with frenetic alarm.
It’s an auditory cliffhanger with adventure and harsh conflict and the ending will have one craving for the next act to begin. This album is an exciting and emotionally seething listen, and there are still three more acts.
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