Hardly Art put up a little stand underneath the tent at The Pitchfork Festival this summer, and while there’s not a lot of time to scurry back and forth between acts on each of the three stages, we were able to stop and talk to Sarah who was peddling all sorts of merchandise and promoting her bands. On her request, we headed over to the side stage to catch The Dutchess & The Duke. It was midway through the afternoon, our vodka was nearly gone, and we were pretty tired, to be frank. When the band of whistling hipsters walked on to the stage, we didn’t realize that the band was essentially Jesse Lortz and Kimberly Morrison. They rolled onto the stage without any pretense with several pals from other bands and did nothing less than blow the densely packed crowd away in a short 35 minute set. As I sat in the photo pit with my measly point-and-shoot, I began to notice something unfold in the music. I turned around and looked at the crowd. Asses were shaking, heads were bopping, and a near square dance mentality was surging through the crowd. My confusion was pretty intense, because the lyrics coming out of Lortz and Morrisons’ mouths were entirely morose and brooding. What fun. Sunset/Sunrise is a power packed album of formulaic folk with about enough wicked sneer to raze buildings. What’s so noteworthy about this release is how well the live material is equally matched in the recording studio. Lively country folk with dreary lyrics. It’s not a new formula. What’s so unique about this album, as opposed to many others of similar ilk, is that Lortz and Morrison do it sincerely, and the push and pull of tortured relationships and pining regret are gorgeously contrasted with a wide spanning variety of upbeat and burning, edgy folk.
James wrote a pretty killer review of Sunset/Sunrise upon its release, and I bought the vinyl shortly thereafter, inspired in large part by their amazing peformance at the festival. I spun “Scorpio” thirty or forty times in a row before I even finished listening to the album in its entirety. The roundabout vocals and slightly distorted hollow-body guitar solos pepper the entire album. Equal parts jangle, country, traditional folk and a splash of rockabilly are all beautifully employed into a kind of warm solid gold sound. A soft grainy distortion envelopes each track, and it’s easily one of the best vinyl purchases I’ve made all year. “Hands” is the initially leaked track that we’ve posted below, but it’s not super indicative of the entire record. The black and white of this album is spectacular. Tales of despair and stark emotional balladry found a home on many turntables this year, but none did it more superbly and, believe it or not, happily, than The Dutchess & The Duke.
Check out the rest of our “Best Albums of 2009″ list.
The Dutchess & The Duke Official Site
Buy Sunset/Sunrise at Insound now!
The Dutchess & The Duke – Hands
The Dutchess & The Duke – Living this Life
