The Dresden Dolls

The Dresden Dolls (2003)

yummygrass

What's great about the world today is the amount of new talented music that seems to fill our ears with amazement. It's hard to find a band that can almost instantly be seen as real "original" music. One band that captures the true meaning of "original" is the Dresden Dolls.

When first starting the album, you start with the simple sounds of a music box on the track "Good Day." Quickly following comes the sound of a piano with Amanda Palmer's voice over the soft tune of an acoustic guitar. The guitar stops as Amanda's voice starts to get more powerful, then with the sound of her piano is the other side of the punk cabaret, Brian Viglione (the drummer). As they both wail on their instruments, Amanda's voice brings a new dark tone to the music. After reaching almost six minutes, the song ends with some melody tune over Mussolini.

Next, for the second track "Girl Anachronism" (one of the singles) explodes from a soft piano to a powerful explosion. The song gives a classic punk feeling, but still giving the gothic dark expression. It is followed by the teasing tune of "Missed Me." While it seems that Amanda is singing about a boy-toy she is teasing around, she whispers into the mic as Brian steadily hits the drums. The song goes into a powerful thrust of angst with yelling, powerful keys, and the insanity of the bouncing drums.

Next comes one of the greatest tracks off the album, "Half Jack." This song shows the full potential of the beauty of Amanda's voice and the skill of Brian's drumming. While she sings either about hating her father or the life of a hermaphrodite, the song still gives a feeling of pure beauty throughout. The song explodes to a powerful yelling of "RUN JACK RUN" and ends immediately.

What follows then is the short, slow song of "672." Amanda says that she does not know what this song is, but it simply is the soft playing of the piano with her voice whispering "672." Then is the major hit of the album, "Coin-Operated Boy." Personally, I see this song as the weakest of the album, but it still got the band their fame. The song is a catchy poppy tune of a girl loving a robotic boy (rumored to be a dildo, but Amanda says that is not the meaning).

After is a fantastic song, "Gravity." This song gives an uprising feeling while the song will make you want to get up and smash things. As the song is played there are a few instrumental breakdowns that give the song its amazement among the great vocal work.

The next track, "Bad Habit" starts with a fast-paced work of a punk-goth sound, singing about literal bad habits. The song seems catchy, yet moving at the same time. Amanda's voice here reaches high limits, showing off true emotion. The next track, "The Perfect Fit" goes to the softer side. As the song goes on the two start at a slow pace, but work harder and go on to sing together, harmonizing the word "FUCK" harshly. The song ends with a loud pace of bouncy drums and harmonizing vocals.

Up next, "The Jeep Song" starts off slow, but quickly turns out to be a poppy tune that makes any car ride seem to be the most enjoyable activity. The next track, "Slide" seems to be the darkest song off the album, showing off powerful percussion, but whimpering sadness coming from her voice.

The album ends with the longest track, reaching over eight and a half minutes -- "Truce" shows the band's full potential of artistic work with fast piano work, screeching violin and, of course, what seems to be a virtuoso on drums.

The Dresden Dolls definitely show full artistic talent in this album, and are a definite original band.