The Twilight Singers
Twilight as Played by the Twilight Singers

Greg Dulli has always written for himself, and he's keen to emphasize this in interviews. At the end of the nineties, he was a well-known name, a respected songwriter of noir ballads.

In that decade, his Afghan Whigs painted dark stories of passion and drugs with their frontman deeply immersed in the role of a hedonistic performer. Dave Kerr from the journal The Skinny describes Dulli's writing as "a sordid machismo that sounds like a romanticized optimism".

The band suffered a setback at a time of splendor (the album 1965 won over a good portion of the audience among those who had followed them through the previous five records and those who were drawn in by the fresh yet reminiscent soul sounds).

However, Dulli makes a living from music, and so he composed sweet, dark, and evocative songs alongside two wonderful voices: the urgent one of Harold "Happy" Chichester and the typically R&B one of Shawn Smith. The former was part of the Royal Crescent Mob which hailed from Ohio just like the Whigs, while the latter was from the Brad (with Stone Gossard) and the Satchel.

For production, they relied on the renowned English electronica masters Fila Brazilia, who put their hands on the demos previously leaked online (some say it was Elektra, the record label from which Dulli distanced himself before the last album with the Whigs).

And the three personalities intertwine between the tracks, providing well-defined roles; in Clyde, Dulli intonates a rhythmic "You're makin' me want it so" fitting the sensual expectations of the track, while Shawn Smith lets his falsetto verses create the perfect backdrop.

Just a few piano notes and guitar chords, some accompanying verses for a dimly lit atmosphere halfway between songwriter engagement and abrupt declarations of intent. All elements that make up the captivating formula of That's Just How That Bird Sings.

The Twilight Singers project put Greg Dulli in the position of sharing various studio work experiences with other collaborators, before returning to his primary role as the leader of the Afghan Whigs. Shawn Smith and Mark Lanegan, before disappearing, left beautiful sonic imprints in Dulli's discography (as well as in their own, of course), rich with that bohemian lifestyle you'll find in Twilight As Played By The Twilight Singers.