Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps Album Review
Posted by Hunter on Thu, 01 Sep 2011.
I’ve often wondered why we don’t just have a band called “Dulli”, because whatever band or project Greg Dulli is involved with or leading, be it the sadly missed Afghan Whigs after their amicable split, The Gutter Twins (working with long time friend Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan), or current group the Twilight Singers, Dulli’s influence and sound is unmistakeable. In Dulli’s own words “the record is as all over the place as I always am”, but there’s still this weird consistency, a genuine honesty in his music, which is compelling.
Fortunately it’s that compelling consistent nature of his music which made me look beyond the first track on the Twilight Singers fifth album “Dynamite Steps”, because honestly, the first track, “Last Night in Town” had me questioning whether I wanted to listen to the rest of the album. I’m glad I did. Dulli’s cavalier vocal approach to pitch / key is well known, but arguably some of musics most inspired legendary musicians have never actually been note perfect themselves.
Whether Dulli is aware of it or not, Dynamite Steps has the feel of a dark retrospective look over what has actually been a remarkable career. I absolutely love “Get Lucky”, with a beautiful fragile piano introduction and Dulli softly accompanying it with vulnerability “Careful when you look into my eyes, you’ll turn to stone” before declaring in the chorus “I get lucky sometimes”, before finally ending in an audiences applause.
“On the Corner” is an indie rock classic waiting to be discovered, and at some point should this song get some major airplay or appear in a film sound track, I guarantee everyone will be hunting this track out as a single. “Gunshots” has this glorious cinematic soundscape feel to it, while “Blackbird and Fox” sees Ani DiFranco matching Dulli in a beautiful duet.
It’s a flawed masterpiece from maverick Dulli, darkly hypnotic, but Dynamite Steps is well worth a listen.
To find out more about the Twilight Singers you can visit their website here: http://www.thetwilightsingers.com/