First, I'll go on record as someone who has eagerly devoured all past material of The Dutchess & The Duke. Since 2009's Pitchfork Festival, I've been closely following all material, and this all sort of swan dived after a fairly drunken (while still endearing) show the duo put on in Cleveland. It didn't surprise me to see Lortz eventually moving off into his own thing. All of that said, let's face it, D&D harnessed at least a sliver of its intrigue with the off-kilter use of contradictory gimmick, particularly the upbeat southern-fried anthems that came off playfully morose. There was a juxtaposition in every D&D track, and while I still dig it, any listener had to go into it understanding that the dichotomy of fun, bluesy folk and dark lyricism was part of the reason it worked.
Listeners can now shed this idea and enjoy Case Studies, front man Jesse Lortz's new solo project. The World is Just a Shape to Fill the Night (out August 16 via Sacred Bones) sloughs off any inkling of lighthearted ironic satire and completely envelopes listeners in a dark psychological shroud – importantly Lortz gets after it lyrically, peppering the album with iconic imagery of desolation, rue, and stark anger; the album is more of a journey than a loosely connected set of tracks – digging deep into a very sincere artistic inspiration. Focusing on heartbroken disconnect and raw regret, Lortz has left us with an album of deliciously burnt edges and saddening emotion – what makes it even better is that the songs resonate and sear into the memory without apology.
Tracks smoothly transmit despairing sincerity throughout the album, which will absolutely sustain it. Part of the reason for a very real feel to the record is a simpler formula. Less jangle + more myrth + more central vocals = the best album Lortz has swung out into the ether. Going solo allows him to strip things down a touch and forces his always intelligent lyricism take the front seat. "From the Blade of my Love" begins the record with sparsely finger picked guitar and Lortz gliding on top of the track with his loosely crooned vocals. The only accompaniment here is a subtle female backing singer, yet it avoids the witty pastiche and rips at the heart strings, pining "you held out so long, I gave you my heart. We found too late, there wasn't nothing left to give." Lortz, for many of these tracks, seems to almost ad-lib gripping lyricism from within his emotional cocoon. The songs are darker, more serious, and what used to be witty choruses instead come across as smart admissions of pain – when Lortz does go with irony, it works aptly. "Dagger" sits toward the end of the album opening with a near medieval guitar arpeggio and dropping into intelligently placed verbal wit and word play, leaving listeners with the best line of the album, "there's a dagger in my hand and I don't want to put it in your heart." Lortz pulls off wicked epithets and harsh pinings of regret throughout the record – without one shred of a forced quality.
An important element is a thematic tilt that flows through the album. Lortz infuses each track with gripping tales of disconnection and dysfunction – the two lovers as two magnets, drawn to each other but never quite able to connect in any real fashion – thus the regret and the constant wishing for things to have turned out differently. The track "You Folded Up My Blanket Like We Were Already Lovers" exemplifies Lortz's running theme of disconnect perfectly. First, it begins with perhaps the greatest opening lyric of any song of all time (seriously, try to find better), You lifted up your skirt and took a piss right in the street. After that provocative opening, the narrative proceeds to catalog super specific and subtle reasons a guy might find a woman attractive – none of them traditional, and none of them real. He's a long way from home, experiencing things he's not had before. The disconnect lies in the fact they aren't lovers at all. It's all in his head. "We were almost holding hands as we went walking through the garden." He was just kind of hanging around her, and this whole narrative is seared to his memory. Not only doesit crave singalong, but it tells the tale of unfinished desires, and lifelong fumbles and mistakes. What's entirely endearing about Lortz's lyrical effort on the record, is that we all 'get it.' No matter how dusty, whiskey-bent, or despairing the words are, listeners are easily and heavily drawn into the world he creates.
"Texas Ghost Story" sits as a song that I'll be playing for years to come, because we see Lortz do what listeners desperately needed in order to fully take him seriously – he showcases lyricism without a forced quality and it fires on all cylinders. An isolated narrator (assumed to be Lortz) has been left vulnerable, his 'demons' have left him, and he's never felt so alone. The track that exhibits true blues-driven sadness and rue. "With sunken eyes, the worn out skin, cracked like desert mud. I tried to turn my heart into a block of stone. It only cried out louder, 'don't you dare, don't leave me'" Channel this type of vein together with soft violins, sparsely laid guitar arrangements, and Lortz heavy and slurred drawl, and the track kicks back to some of the best alt-country in recent memory.
Sometimes filtered with a layer of 60's pop, sometimes bluegrass, sometimes straight retro country, Case Studies is exactly what listeners always wanted The Dutchess & the Duke to become – a serious, sinister, lyrical gem – exhibiting intellegence and leaving listeners with infectious music to take to heart – and to ear.
Fine and dandy, but what are The Duchess’s plans? Is there a solo album from her on the horizon?
Not sure what The Duchess has planned. I think if you get the vibe of the review though, you’ll see that I don’t think it matters haha. Lortz still has a chica crooning throughout lots of this, but it’s more subdued. This one is all Lortz and it’s overall, more serious. So, for Lortz, he probably hope The Duchess is a distant memory.