03 March 2006

the dresden dolls - "delilah" (from the yes, virginia lp, released april 18, available for preorder here.)

"girl anachronism" apart, i never "got" the dresden dolls. perhaps it was all too cabaret, too boston, too egregious in their alternative lifestyles--too much, then, like the stereotypical alt.porn model's favorite band ever.

but alt.porn models, amongst their other attributes, turns out can be right on w/ their music, or at least "delilah" suggests that. i probably don't know anyone like the dolls; i probably don't know anyone they sing about; but this, to coin a phrase, crosses boundaries. usu. the dolls move me to unspeakable acts of depravity; w/ "delilah," they just move me, flat out.

so much of what i've heard from the band has been along the lines of "yeah, we've only got a piano, but that fucker can rock." pianos have other uses, too, even beyond lying on them seductively. they can be beautiful, they can be musical, and as square and as establishment as that may be, it's actually a radical move on their part. on the strength of yes, virginia, i'm interested in seeing where they go from here, to see if they loosen up some of the constraints, many self-imposed, others due to expectation. like rules, as any good nonconformist will tell you, expectations are meant after all to be broken.

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