In November 2024, I caught The Dear Hunter’s Celebrating 20 Years tour in Carrboro, North Carolina. It was a special occasion: my best friend Joey and his partner traveled to see this show on their final night. As mutual long-time fans, Joey and I had never seen the band together. It ended up being a walk down memory lane and affirmation of why the group is so damn captivating.
Hearing songs like “The Church and the Dime” teleported me to 2009 when I first discovered Act II. I pored over every motif from the first three Acts, theorizing about the story’s future direction. The band, led by creative mastermind Casey Crescenzo, became one to worship.
Since then, The Dear Hunter has been one of my most beloved musical constants. It’s no exaggeration to say they’ve followed me through life. I’ve introduced countless friends to their work along the way, some of whom have become devout fans.
After two decades of concept-heavy progressive rock, let’s look back at their work, from Act I to Antimai.
A Lake, a River, and a City
Act I: The Lake South, The River North is an audacious artistic statement for a project still finding its footing. Casey wrote and produced the album largely on his own, with contributions from his brother Nick (drums), mother Judy (backing vocals), and father Phil (organs). And yet, it laid a foundation of musical ambition and narrative complexity — defining traits for the band going forward.
The transcendent chorus of “Battesimo del Fuoco” sets the scene for the five Act records. The message comes from a group of Oracles trying to steer the main character—the dear Hunter—away from a cycle of tragedy. His mother, Ms. Terri, flees a brothel in the City while pregnant and escapes to the countryside. She tries to shield her son from a cruel world while supporting herself the only way she knows how. We meet The Pimp and the Priest: a preaching con man by day and Ms. Terri’s procurer by night.
What stands out most about Act I is its balance of a fresh creative vision and calculated restraint. The arrangements are lush without being too intricate; the narrative is nuanced but not inaccessible. Their indie/prog-rock sound fit in well alongside peers like As Tall as Lions, Closure in Moscow, and Thrice. Standout tracks like “City Escape” and “The Pimp and The Priest” introduce recurring motifs that grow into thematic cornerstones (and bait for many theater nerds).
Act I concludes like an orchestral performance, but Act II: The Meaning of, And All Things Regarding Ms. Leading wastes no time bringing the naive protagonist into the spotlight. His mother’s death leaves him wondering what to do with his life, so he heads to the City to figure out how to be an adult. The Oracles attempt to intervene, but their warnings are brushed aside. Hunter falls in love with a prostitute from his mother’s former brothel. Unsurprisingly, his innocence shatters. And, after some post-breakup moping, our Boy ships off for parts unknown.
Casey, now with a full band, crafted a varied sonic palate for listeners to enjoy. The 10-minute epic, “Lake and the River”, ends with a pivot into the O Brother Where Art Thou-esque “The Oracles on the Delhi Express”. There’s also the Latin tango-inspired “Blood of the Rose”, low-key prog anthem in “Dear Ms. Leading”, and over-the-top emo vulnerability of “Red Hands”. Every song supports the narrative without sacrificing experimentation.
For many fans, Act II was the band’s defining point. Every aspect, from musicianship and vocal performances to project-wide ambition, felt leveled up. Fans slot them in alongside fellow ambitious storytellers in Coheed & Cambria. The only question left on peoples’ minds in 2007 was, “When is Act III coming out?”
Life, Death, and Rebirth
The answer was two years later when Act III: Life and Death dropped Hunter into World War I.
Casey and a tweaked band lineup doubled down on their symphonic sound to convey more intense scenes. Unlike Act II‘s breakup record vibe, Hunter is dodging German tanks and witnessing the devastation of mustard gas. The guitars were more distorted to match the chaos, and Nick Crescenzo’s drums served as a pounding pulse. (Some of my all-time favorite drum mixing is on this record.)
Thematically, the record finds Hunter reflecting on the cruelty of war (“Oh! What a terrible, terrible game we play / Replacing a pawn for a body and the players / Politicians, who say what they need to say”) and his cowardice (“My decaying mind pretends / None of this ever happened / We either learn to live a lie / Or we’re waiting here to die”). He unites with his half-brother and father, only for painful revelations to tear them apart. The narrative weight had never been heavier, pushing the band to create delicate numbers in “Saved” and “Father” alongside traditional rock bangers like “In Cauda Venenum”.
The story concludes much like Act II, with Hunter staring at an uncertain future. It wasn’t much different for the band and fans heading into 2010. Less than a year after Act III, Casey announced a break from the Act records. With the project on pause, he turned toward abstract explorations of sound called The Color Spectrum. This became a series of nine EPs, each with four songs that interpret an individual color.
In under a year, Casey crafted 36 songs that dared to venture far beyond the band’s progressive rock sound. Black has a heavy industrial rock vibe, while Orange is much more blues-influenced. Green is big on folk and country, but Indigo gets very electronic. There are many directions to pursue, both for the creator and the fans hungry for more unique conceptual work.
While fans may have wanted Casey to work on Act IV, this project would be crucial for the band’s stability and sonic evolution. Most importantly, the lineup solidified around the Crescenzo brothers, Max Tousseau (guitar/keyboards), Rob Parr (guitar), and Nick Sollecito (bass). This iteration has stuck since 2011.
Over a year after The Color Spectrum, Casey launched Cave & Canary Goods, a record label imprint partnered with Equal Vision Records. Alongside this news was the announcement of a new album in 2013, yet again unaffiliated with the Acts.
Migrant, their first non-concept release, was stripped-down compared to the bombast of Act III. Casey and the band explored new sonic elements, such as writing most tracks on piano or using a wider array of percussive textures. While songs like “Whisper” and “Girl” tread familiar ground, others, like the solemn “Sweet Naiveté” and “This Vicious Place”, felt made for a smoke-filled jazz lounge.
(This record would be later remixed in 2023’s Migrant Returned, which included six bonus tracks — such as the amazing “Dig Your Own Grave” — released separate from the original album.)
By this point in my fandom, I believed that Casey was a musical wizard capable of doing anything he wanted. He pushed the boundary further with a successful Kickstarter campaign in August 2013 to compose a symphony, Amour & Attrition, and record it with the BRNO Orchestra. While not genre-breaking for classical music, it was a well-deserved achievement that would bring the band back to the Acts.
From Branches to Roots
After six years away from the project, Casey unveiled Act IV: Rebirth in Reprise alongside the epic lead single, “A Night on the Town”. The record returned to what fans and critics loved most: impressive genre-bending musicianship meets complex storytelling. Their orchestral prog-rock sound hit another level with horn and string arrangements performed by the Awesöme Orchestra.
Storywise, Hunter takes on his half-brother’s identity and returns to the City. His drunken wandering leads him back to his ex-love and their shared nemesis, the Pimp and the Priest. He attempts to do good and wins political office, only to stay silent when his true identity is discovered. Subtle motif callbacks to the previous three Acts weave throughout, leaving fans to speculate over their significance with renewed enthusiasm.
When I wrote for the now-defunct Mind Equals Blown, I gave Act IV a 10—the only perfect score I ever gave. My 21-year-old self raved:
“[The band] bring[s] every aspect of music they can to the table for what culminates in a whole and grandiose example of musical evolution rather than simple progression.
[Rebirth in Reprise] achieves a peak level of cinematic presentation, instrumentation, production, and scope that we’ve yet to see from The Dear Hunter, [surpassing] the band’s entire discography [and] each genre that this record intersects.
It only took six years, but the wait for Act IV [and] the band’s definitive release is finally over.”
Yeah, I stand by that. From the poppy “Waves” to the disco-rock banger “King of Swords (Reversed)”, Act IV remains my go-to recommendation for introducing new listeners to The Dear Hunter’s world.
Fortunately, fans didn’t have to wait long for the next installment. Act V: Hymns with the Devil in Confessional was announced in June 2015 with a release date roughly a year after Act IV. Despite being recorded at the same time as its predecessor, Act V is the darkest, most theatrical chapter in the band’s discography. The Oracles return one last time, not with a warning, but a dire promise of a swift end for Hunter.
Casey and the band navigate to that conclusion by flipping every creative switch and not being afraid of experimentation, as they always have. Sure, songs like “Gloria” and “The Revival” fit The Dear Hunter’s particular mold. But there’s also the big band-esque “Mr. Usher (On His Way to Town)” and delicate acoustic ballad “Light”. “The Haves Have Naught” is the closest the Acts ever feel like a real musical, thanks to the duet between Casey and then-keyboardist Gavin Castleton.
If you ask fans about their favorite song from Act V, I bet you’ll hear “The March” often. It’s the culmination of five albums worth of motifs before the record’s grand conclusion. For those invested in the story and musical craftsmanship, it’s the biggest climax in the Acts. It absolutely rips.
With the Acts in the rearview, Casey could set his sights on creating a new concept altogether. But outside of the All Is as All Should Be EP, fans would face another several year wait before the next project emerged.
The Indigo Child, Antimai, and Beyond
During their Fossio et Satio tour in 2019, the band performed two songs from their then-upcoming next project. Unlike the orchestral rock sound of the Act records, these tracks were a synth-heavy “space-funk,” according to fans. In 2021, they finally revealed The Indigo Child: a dystopian sci-fi concept, complete with a short film and 3D modeling work led by Casey.
Antimai, the first album in The Indigo Child story, revolves around a strict hierarchical society, stretching from impoverished underclasses to decadent rulers and their god emperor. Each song corresponds to a different ring in this supposed last bastion of civilization. Casey’s lyrics and the band’s sound choices serve as world-building for how the society functions. The funky synths of “Ring 7 – Industry” do as much to inform this world as the cocky yet paranoid narrator on “Ring 4 – Patrol”.
Musically, the record fits in a disco-jazz fusion — a shift from the progressive rock that fans had come to expect. Despite the musical shakeup, Antimai is an apt political reflection of post-COVID reality. Progressing through the Rings provides a scathing critique of capitalism, whether it’s the subjected lower class, the learned helplessness of the middle class, or the police state that protects those in power. Casey puts it best in the record’s final moments: “The world is only made more insane when the helpless many praise the names of the very ones who want us stuck beneath them.”
Over two years since Antimai released, the band has stayed busy with tours and new music. Sunya, the next installment in their ongoing saga, is slated for a mid-2025 release. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or new to their discography, their journey remains worth exploring — and their future is as exciting to anticipate.
The flame of the Acts may be gone, but the fire of The Dear Hunter remains.
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