The story of two young spies in Europe during the beginning of the Cold War, Matt Olsson‘s verbose folk-concept album Part One: The Sabotage is the first of two installments. Calling on varied influences from The Decemberists, Tom Waits, and Devendra Banhart, as well as a number of literary works, The Sabotage has a musical scope to match the expansive narrative scope. With love, death, gunfights, and intrigue, the 11-song album is full of the passion and detail of a Romantic European novel. That his melodies are so strong and his music so interesting only makes the experience all the better.

Like The Decemberists, Olsson’s primary musical focus is folk, but he cleverly adds progressive touches of rock and metal throughout. Some of the most interesting moments on The Sabotage are when Olsson forces styles together, creating a disconcerting, unsettling feeling to heighten the tension of the narrative. On “Deux Moulins (Paris Pt.1)”, he centers the song around a thick distorted guitar riff, similar to Porcupine Tree or The Dear Hunter. Easily the heaviest song on the album, he turns everything around at the end. The powerful riff turns from major to minor and gives way to a folk harmonica solo, the juxtaposition harsh and abrasive (in the best way possible, of course!) This move is mirrored at the end of the album on the penultimate track,  “Daylight,” where the sunshiny piano chords instantly switch from major to minor and reverbed distorted guitars are brought in to play the song out.

As tends to be the case on concept albums, though, the strongest moments on The Sabotage are the ones less concerned with moving the plot forward. The instantly catchy “Better (Hanger No. 9 Pt.1)” and the folk anthem “Snakes (Langley)” deal with the plot in more ambiguous, thematic ways, making them obvious singles. Other songs may take a few listens to full settle in, but when they do, the experience of listening to The Sabotage from start to finish is thoroughly powerful and moving.

Olsson is aiming to release Part Two during the first half of 2014, but until then, we can keep getting familiar with the greatness of Part One: The Sabotage. Check out (and buy) Matt Olsson’s music on bandcamp.

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