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The Dresden Dolls Yes Virginia... Roadrunner/UMA  Normally I accept that record label vagaries often make strange bedfellows, but The Dresden Dolls' presence on Roadrunner still baffles me. It leads me to speculate that such a label might allow Amanda Palmer (vocals, songs, piano) and Brian Viglione (drums) a level of creative control that their heavier, more chart-bothering labelmates lack simply because the company heads might not understand what's going on. Certainly 'Yes Virginia...' is pretty much exactly not what a label would be looking for in a second album: it's idiosyncratic, articulate, wide-ranging and, a healthy dose of self-reflection notwithstanding, not even a tiny bit emo. It's also probably the best record that'll be released this year. Viglione's position as popular music's most expressive drummer remains unchallenged this time around, but now he's also showing off his abilities on bass, guitar and vocals, adding new colours to the band's musical palatte. That's not to suggest that things have changed dramatically from the self-titled debut; it's more accurate to say that they've developed. For example, those attracted to the band through the mordant wit of Coin Operated Boy will adore the blackly-comic Mandy Goes To Med School, while fans of the frenetic Girl Anachronism will revel in the breakneck Necessary Evil. The album kicks off with the strident Sex Changes, with Palmer spitting lines over tense piano and drum lines before hitting the album's most pop moments, the jubilant/furious Backstabber (how can one not love a woman whose litany of complaints against the titular subject includes "Don't tell me not to reference my songs within my songs"?) and the barrel-house piano-driven My Alcoholic Friends (with "I'll be on my best behaviour / Taking shots for Mother Nature," a sly lyrical nod to Tears For Fears' Everybody Wants To Rule The World). Then there are the slow-burners, like Delilah: at first listen Palmer's story of a self-destructive friend in an abusive relationship seems musically slight (particularly caught between the far more showy My Alcoholic Friends and the personal call-to-arms that is Dirty Business), until one gets to Palmer and Viglione practically howling the coda of "let's see how fast this thing can go". At first I thought Sing a strange choice for lead single, not least since it closes the album, but to re-establish the brand via this lilting waltz-time ballad makes strange, intuitive sense when looking at the album as whole and if, say, Shores Of California is neither here nor there, you'll need it as a breather after the empty masturbation lament that is First Orgasm. It's catchy. It's memorable. It's emotionally devastating. It's musically accomplished. It's funny. It's angry. It's deadly serious. 'Yes Virginia...' is what all albums should be.  |
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