by: Sun-J
To be honest, former Afghan Whigs singer Greg Dulli has a terrible voice. It's very whiny, weak at times, and fails to approximate the correct key. Though strangely, I find myself enjoying it. The Twilight Singers last album, Blackberry Belle, was a great rock album that was arranged to show case Dulli's strengths. The album was filled with seductive and sleazy rock, catchy caricature hooks, and off-kilter beats and rhythms. Greg Dulli is known to do covers of songs. He has made a career out of twisting the likes of Henry Mancini and Nine Inch Nails. His latest album is no change from his medium of success. She Loves You is a palette of textures and colors rearranged. From Bjork, to Billie Holiday, to Fleetwood Mac and Mary J. Blige, Dulli recreates renditions of their masterpieces.
Dulli opens the album with a cover of Hope Sandoval's morose, "Feeling of a Gaze." For the most part, Dulli brightens the soundscape, upheaving the cellos and depressing strings. He then raises the tempo a couple notches and cruises through the song with his axe. Dulli then soups up Martina Topley Bird's "Too Tough To Die," adding a piano chunk, retro guitars and filtered drums to create a finger snapping beat. Dulli's toughest restructure is Bjork's "Hyperballad." Essentially removing the nervous build of the neurotic beats on the original, Dulli phrases the song with soft guitar and sparse drumming. Dulli's next cover is Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit." With Fleetwood Mac's, "What Makes You Think You?re The One," Dulli removes the chomp rhythm by adding a sprinkling piano and lulling vocals. Dulli cranks up the tempo with retro guitars and scratching reverb, but fails to match the cool, crispness of Holiday's original vocals. Dulli speeds up Mary J. Bilges "Real Love" and adds a squelching bass while Dulli strips John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" of its horns, and adds wah-wah guitars. Dulli takes Marvin Gaye's "Please Stay" and dissects the drum parts while incorporating subtle strings and a hush piano. Dulli sticks to the original arrangement of the folk song, "Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" utilizing a guitar drumbeat, piano and cooing vocals which climax into a melodramatic wail. Dulli has elements of Johnny Cash, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. Though he is not as good as any of them, his remakes are interesting enough to hold a listeners attention for sixty minutes. Though his voice is off-key, it is very versatile and allows him to conform to the different themes of various classics. From R&B to Metal, the Twilight Singers have thrived on sonic renovations. I would have liked to see them tackle Andre 3000's "Hey Ya," but for the most part this album was enjoyable.
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