Boston based musical duo, The Dresden Dolls have been together 7 years, 3 albums, 7 singles, 2 DVDs and countless live performances.
This year sees the release of their fourth full length effort, No, Virginia (out now through Roadrunner records), which is actually a collection of unreleased tracks and B-sides from the Yes, Virginia sessions from their sophomore album of the same name.
The Dresden Dolls sound is usually labelled as being ‘Punk Cabaret’ a title invented by member, Amanda Palmer due to a fear that the press would refer to them as ‘gothic’. In actuality, ‘Punk Cabaret’ is quite a fitting title but one that doesn’t really lend itself to a full explanation of what to expect from their distinctive and overtly unique sound.
I myself am not a fan of ‘The Dolls music. It’s all a little too avant-garde and pretentious for my liking. It’s almost as if they’re trying so hard to be quirky and memorable that they’ve forgotten they’re meant to be making music worth listening to.
The tracks I find the most tolerable include, ‘The Mouse And The Model’, ‘The Gardener’ and ‘The Kill’.
There’s just something about Palmer’s voice that rubs me the wrong way. I can’t quite pinpoint what it is. All I know is after an entire album of her somewhat husky garbling I’m well on my way to needing a large glass of whatever’s on tap.
Don’t take my word for it though. There’s every chance I’m part of the minority that just ‘doesn’t get’ what The Dresden Dolls specific brand of genius is all about. If you’re yet to hear them by all means give No, Virginia a spin. To each their own, after all.
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