Send "The Twilight Singers " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Last fall, Greg Dulli embarked on a short tour of the U.S. and the UK that dusted off chestnuts from every dark corner of his career with the Afghan Whigs and the Twilight Singers. From other 1990s alt-rock survivors, this might have come across as a wholly nostalgic endeavor, a way to remind fans that he's the guy who wrote "Debonair" and "Honky's Ladder". Instead, perhaps because he performed alongside a small group that stripped the songs down considerably, it was more like a victory lap, an acknowledgment that Dulli, despite being written off in the 1990s, has thrived where his one-time contemporaries have withered. His older work has aged particularly well: His lyrics have lost none of their potent psychodrama, and the scouring guitars still sound urgent and frantic-- perhaps because they were never beholden to the arena punk of the early 1990s. More impressively, Dulli hasn't lost his fire even in his late forties. His recent material with the Twilight Singers and the Gutter Twins proved strong and compelling.It's fitting, then, that Dulli follows that tour up with Dynamite Steps, a Twilight Singers album that resurrects his favorite themes and noir-rock sounds. He's our Virgil touring an urban American purgatory, an unnamed city that never sees daytime, with more back alleys than main drags and something dangerous, illicit, and tempting on every corner. We've been here many times before, and we've seen many of these sites. Dulli's only got a set number of tricks up his sleeve, and Dynamite Steps deploys them all: the vocal soaring above the maelstrom of guitars (a trick he perfected back on the Whigs' 1965), the off-key croon that other singers might AutoTune, the delicate piano contrasting the gutter guitars, the sordid come-ons masking dark existential doubts, the sudden groove as if someone stepped on the gas. Even the song titles sound familiar. How can this be the first time Dulli has named a song "Get Lucky" or "Never Seen No Devil"? While Dulli's palette is limited, he manages to make these familiar elements sound fresh and vital on Dynamite Steps, newly explosive and meaningful more than 20 years into his career. He's not redefining his sound (why should he?), but he is refining it, indulging the darker orchestrations with a more careful hand. Age lends his lyrics added gravity, as if he's become aware of impossibly high stakes, and the junkie/romance metaphors sounds all the more vital, instilling "Never Seen No Devil" with a caustic urgency and the title track with a hard-won transcendence. "All rise with me/ All take your place," he commands on "On the Corner", echoing the preacherly exhortations of the Whigs' Black Love. The song's ambiguity is stirring, as the corner suggests music, drugs, life-changing moments-- all serving a seedy gospel uplift....full text |
| Dustedmagazine |
| Dynamite Steps is the fifth album from the Twilight Singers, and it marks the 10th anniversary of the group — and by “group,” I mean the rotating cast surrounding Greg Dulli, the singer, songwriter, and sole permanent fixture. Five albums is just one less than the Afghan Whigs — Dulli’s previous venerable band — released over the course of its decade-long career. And if you include Dulli’s solo album, Amber Headlights, and his work with Mark Lanegan in the Gutter Twins, the past decade has arguably been the most productive of his career. All of which is to say that this might be a natural time for Dulli to engage in a little career reflection, and on Dynamite Steps it seems as though he has done just that – its 11 songs, whether intentionally or not, surveys his career thus far. Indeed, there’s a little something for fans of just about every Dulli project here. He duets with Lanegan on “Be Invited,” a dark ballad perfectly in line with anything on the Gutter Twins’ Saturnalia. He then follows that up with a four-song cycle that could have been pulled from any of the Afghan Whigs’ mid-90s albums. “Waves” has the best chorus on the record and proves once again that Dulli may have a limited range as a singer, but he’s most effective when he’s testing the outer edges of it. “Get Lucky” is a slower song, and ostensibly more confessional. The lyrics continue a theme Dulli has employed often throughout his work: A remorseful manipulator who is, himself, deeply fearful of being hurt and manipulated. If it isn’t quite as raw as the classic “My Curse” from the Afghan Whigs’ Gentlemen, it’s at the very least a good homage. “On the Corner” and “Gunshots” demonstrate more of a soul influence – “Gunshots” in particular, as it builds a swelling chorus (complete with backing vocals from Joseph Arthur) out of a piano figure and Dulli’s cracking voice. The center of the album, these four songs are among the best that Dulli has written with the Twilight Singers....full text |
| Popdose |
| In the credits for the new Twilight Singers album, Dynamite Steps (Sub Pop), the following line appears: “Shot on location in Los Angeles, Joshua Tree & Arcadia, CA, New Orleans & Bogalusa, LA.” Normally this would seem to be a pretty pretentious statement to make when listing the recording locations for a rock and roll album. Not in this case. Dynamite Steps has the kind of wide-screen, epic cinematic qualities that make the film allusion completely apt. The Twilight Singers began as a side project for Greg Dulli, a respite from his day job as the frontman for the Afghan Whigs. That side project has now turned into a rock and roll juggernaut that has released two of the best albums of the last five years. Oh, and by the way, you can add the 2008 release Saturnalia by the Gutter Twins, Dulli’s side project with Mark Lanegan, to make it three great albums for Dulli in the last five years. The Twilight Singers are essentially a solo project for Dulli that finds him collaborating with a shifting cast of musicians. This is dark music, full of squalling guitars, swirling strings, sizzling electronic textures, and of course good old bass and drums. The lyrics aren’t meant to be understood on a line by line basis, but rather to present a big picture, and it isn’t a pretty one. In an alternate, or maybe I should say alternative, world, Greg Dulli would be a superstar, and even in this world he is for people like me. If his reputation is to be believed, it may be that his personal issues have kept him from grabbing the brass ring. The good news is that while Dynamite Steps is a dark tale, it comes by its darkness through confession, and through confession there is redemption....full text |
The Twilight Singers lyrics
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