First Impressions: Powder Burns

Three weeks before its physical release, the Twilight Singers have released their new LP Powder Burns on iTunes. I love early Christmas presents. After three days of listening only to this album here are my first impressions.

As a whole this album feels like a culmination of Dulli's previous work. There are hint of Twilight and Blackberry Belle, but then it's also more of a rock record than the two previous albums. There's also a stronger feeling of hope in this album than the previous albums. The first song, "I'm Ready" being a prime example with its chorus: "I'm ready to love somebody." Actually, the whole album feels like Dulli has seen a light and crawled out from a dark haze. This is evident not only in songs like "Candy Cane Crawl," (Which is Dulli's R&B classic) but in the music as well. Both "There's Been an Accident" and "Bonnie Brae" build to a gospel like climax with soaring background vocals and Dulli belting out his conviction. I think this is the strongest Dulli's sounded on any of his albums. The only hiccup in this album I think is "My Time (Has Come)." It doesn"t seem to fit this album to me. It feels like something from the Afghan Whigs' 1965 album. Maybe it's just the vampire lyrics.

So, where does this fit among the previous two albums? I think in the middle. I like Blackberry Belle better, but I also have a strong personal attachment to that album. I think it's better than Twilight. Again this is all personal opinion. The fact is that this is better than most albums that will be released this year. But then I'm severely biased.

I put five of my immediate favorites from this album in the player to the right.