Twilight Singers
Powder Burns

THE REVIEW

Greg Dulli returns, former singer of the seminal Afghan Whigs, and this is his fourth studio album (including a cover EP) in six years of activity with the new project called The Twilight Singers, or "the singers of twilight."

The album underwent a particular gestation as it was recorded in various phases of time and place, in his own home in Los Angeles, but also in New York and New Orleans, as well as in Milan and Catania (due to the deep collaboration-friendship born between Dulli and Manuel Agnelli of Afterhours, described in the acknowledgments of the booklet... a brother).
As we delve into the listening of the platter, we discover the pleasant presence of illustrious collaborators such as Ani Di Franco who lends her voice on three tracks and Agnelli himself who contributed to the writing of "My Time (Has Come)" and "The Conversation". Moreover, the former is the English version and, in my opinion, significantly better in its rock-mantric progression than "La Vedova Bianca" featured in the latest work of Afterhours: I risk using a cliché, but in this case, truly, Americans know how to rock better than us Italians...
There are also other Afghan Whigs-memory gems like "Candy Cane Crawl" where former bassist John Curley plays with Dulli again and where our Dulli passionately and bitterly shouts "…who loves the blue sky?... who wears the dark look?... " with the class that distinguishes him in every interpretation...; or "Forty Dollars", a clear homage to the passion for Beatles melodies ("she loves you ...yeah yeah yeah...") reinterpreted in a modern key.
But the entire album is a chiaroscuro of broken feelings, uncertain loves, and good intentions perhaps not to be disregarded in Dulli's best tradition; the only sour note is, in my opinion, "The Conversation" made of a rather predictable and sappy melody, deserving the only thumbs down of the twelve songs present here.

Wanting to be picky, one might say that perhaps having a more stable line-up, with musicians capable of composing as well as performing, could add a final touch of variety to the already fascinating work of the musician from Cincinnati...