Album A Day: The Dresden Dolls – Yes, Virginia…

Hey folks, TJ here again. I’m taking a mini-vacation from blogging so I can catch up on listening, thus giving you newer, fresher music to get excited about. To help me in this matter, I’ve enlisted music nut, fellow Arcadian and brilliant writer Peter Medeiros to present his thoughts on a favorite album by one of his favorite bands. So, I’ll turn it over to Peter:

Artist: The Dresden Dolls
Album: Yes, Virginia
Release Date: April 19, 2006

Amanda Palmer, front-woman of The Dresden Dolls, has said that the band’s name was partly decided upon because it evoked both the violent and the fragile. And on the band’s sophomore* album Yes, Virginia… (2006), the two are put in close proximity, not merely across the album but within individual songs.

For those unfamiliar with The Dresden Dolls’ sound, yes, this act is just Palmer’s wide-ranging piano playing, versatile vocals, Brian Viglione’s masterful drumming. But if you’re looking for White Stripes-like celebration of simplicity, look elsewhere. While certain songs like “First Orgasm” and “Me & The Minibar” might embrace the kind of visceral sparseness one normally associates with the blasted land between two World War I trenches, this is shot through with a decidedly complex and modern focus. And such moments of haunting desolation are few and far between, proving perhaps necessary respite from the punny abandon of opener “Sex Changes” and the frenetic “Necessary Evil.”

However, the album’s greatest successes occur when the two come together. In “Mrs. O” — reportedly one of Palmer’s favorite Dolls’ songs — the nearly sedate, conversational tone of the song’s start eventually gives way to Viglione’s controlled confirmation of Palmer’s proclamation: “The truth won’t save you now.” Similarly, the story of “Delilah” begins with only Palmer’s soft vocals joined with mournful, slow piano playing, but the seven-minute epic eventually climaxes with layered vocals and manic, pounding chords driven to the very brink of control by Viglione’s consummate percussion. “Delilah” perfectly captures the rocketing versatility of Palmer’s song-writing and vocals, but also reminds any listener that Brian Viglione is perhaps the most under-appreciated drummer in modern rock n’ roll.

And make no mistake: though the duo describe their sound as “punk cabaret,” Yes, Virginia… is a rock record. Insofar as rock n’ roll has always been a celebration of the raunchy, the periphery, the grim, gritty, painful, passionate, brutal and beautiful given a strong beat and a powerful voice, The Dresden Dolls have supplied us rock n’ roll perfectly adapted to the modern concerns of our era. Ranging from alcoholism (“My Alcoholic Friends”) to a jazz number about abortion (“Mandy Goes To Med School”) to investigation of the odd, unspoken social taboo against public performance (“Sing”), Yes, Virginia… invites us to find both comedy and tragedy in every subject; this is not Hallmark telling us that there is light even in the darkest of places, but a sincere attempt to make those shadowy places into a home, a landscape of sound made habitable by pathos tempered with a gleeful sense of humor. When Palmer tells us on the final track to “Sing for the kid with the phone who refuses to sing[...] You motherfuckers will sing someday,” she is deadly serious about the smile on her face, and the smiles on ours.

Required Listening:
“Backstabber”
“Delilah”

*Fans might take issue with this designation as a “sophomore” album, but I exclude A is for Accident if only because it contains many of the same tracks as The Dresden Dolls, only recorded live. Also, it was produced prior to the Dolls’ turbulent relationship with RoadRunner Records. For those interested, however, Accident does contain a few gems, such as the decidedly epic “Glass Slipper” and the fan-favorite “Bank of Boston Beauty Queen.”

The Dresden Dolls – Backstabber [iTunes] (YSI)

==TJ==