Like a comic-book “alternate universe” version of the ever-popular White Stripes, the Dresden Dolls have stripped piano rock down to its roots, given it a cortisone shot of emotional honesty and turned up the volume to kick some ass with their self-described “Brectian punk cabaret.”
Frontwoman Amanda Palmer squirms her way through honest and clever lyrics while pounding the piano like a possessed woman, accompanied by the frantic yet restrained drumming of Brian Viglione. The entire album plays like a Dadaist, heavy-metal version of a Victorian music box.
Frankly, this album has too many good songs to list, including some piano ballads unrivaled since the era of Elton John (“Half Jack,” “Gravity,” “Truce,” “Good Day”) and a children’s rhyme twisted into a tale of innocence lost (“Missed Me”). Regular listeners to non-Clear Channel stations might also recognize “Coin-Operated Boy,” the ultimate girl-power song wrapped in an “Alice in Wonderland” motif, and “Girl Anachronism,” two minutes of the greatest cathartic piano punk ever created.
Not only are the songs themselves great toe-tappers, but musically the Palmer/Viglione duo shows off some impressive musical chops: All of the songs on the album, save the silly track “The Jeep Song,” tend to stray from the traditional verse-chorus-verse structure, as if the entire album was a 60-minute version of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android.”
The album’s slick production (especially the drums) doesn’t quite capture the sexy ferocity of their live performances, but it comes pretty damn close.