The Twilight Singers - Dynamite Steps

It's been over fifteen years since Greg Dulli shuttered the Afghan Whigs (with help from Elektra, and arguably a fairly pronounced love affair with marching powder) and started The Twilight Singers. Like most things these days, this makes me feel old.

Dulli has long loved soul and R&B music, wearing his heart on his sleeve with the Whigs Uptown Avondale EP and various interpolations of TLC hits in late period AW shows. The Twilight Singers are not without guitars, but definitely seems to be more rooted in electronica and dance music. Look forward to a more fleshed-out thesis on this soon, but I can see very little chance that Dulli and Kanye are not on each other's radar. In fact, I'll eat my AW Retarded 7" if Dulli doesn't cover Runaway on this upcoming tour.

The Twilight Singers have had many homes in their existence, the most recent being their old buddies at Sub Pop. Historically, the adage goes that Afghan Whigs were on Sub Pop to get laid, and moved to Elektra to get paid. I would expect that the opposite is true this time around. Luckily, Dynamite Steps is money, so both parties should be well satisfied. Eleven tracks here, all as darkly beautiful as the Italian ladies that Dulli is so fond of. I think Gunshots is probably my favorite track, as it hearkens back closest to my dear departed Afghan Whigs, but all of the tracks are solid, whether you find the Whigs or the Singers your favorite. Those who were not on board previously will probably not be swayed this time around, but neither does that excuse said naysayers lack of taste.

Interested proactive parties can preorder Dynamite Steps in cd or double white vinyl form from Sub Pop here and get two unreleased tracks for their trouble. Look for Twilight Singers to start the promo engine on Jimmy Kimmel in the next couple of weeks and stay tuned to JS-NYC for tour dates that aren't in Italy. The Twilight Singers web presence can be found here.

Ciao!

R