2 keepers
keeper avg .181
Greg Dulli's second solo album in the Twilight Singers side band incarnation has all his familiar flavors of soul and R&B, as well as his guitar drones. But with the exception of drums and multi-instrumentalist Mathias Schneeberger's guitar and keyboard work, Dulli covers most of the album's instruments, so he had lots of opportunity to create his own textures, mostly on keyboard. He starts the album with "Martin Eden," a piano-driven dive-bar torch song, which fades into the very similar-sounding "Esta Noche." Dulli's piano also introduces "Teenage Wristband"****, a Bruce Springsteen "Born To Run" or "The River" style rocker, the first song with some drive. Dulli starts "The Killer"**** with a deep Stereolab-like groove on a slowly pulsating Fender Rhodes before crashing in with a Whigs-worthy power-ballad chorus.
The funky "Decatur St." is similarly groove-y, though melodically less than satisfying. "Papillon" ("bye bye butterfly" song) alternates between acoustic verses and Gentlemen-like choruses. The rest of the album is less assertive but fine as background music, except for the album-closing "Number Nine," which functions as the power ballad "Faded" did on "Black Love"; its dramatic pacing and memorable outro could have made it the album's highlight were it not for some lazy vocals and tuneless pedal steel slide guitar. The album is an improvement over the previous album (Twilight as Played.....) and a subtler work than his career-defining and genre-busting original band.
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