On what is essentially his second solo album, Afghan Whigs/Twilight Singers leader Dulli gets a bit introspective and melancholy. Opening track “Pantomima” starts off very bass heavy and then turns into an uptempo R&B styled rocker. It’s a nice way to kick off the record and remind listeners of how sultry Dulli can be when he wants to be.
The quiet acoustic tendencies of “Marry Me” highlight the power of the song and make it quite the standout. I haven’t dug Dulli this much since 2014’s Do To The Beast. It’s definitely a song to tug the heartstrings. On the other side, “The Tide” shows off Dulli becoming a pained and earnest singer songwriter trying to pull every emotion out of every word. It’s a decent enough track, but doesn’t quite have the strength to be as interesting.
This is a record that is all over the place and it makes it less memorable than you want it to be. The ballads like “Slow Pan” are hit-or-miss and the rockers are so schizophrenically sonic that you wonder if the material here was just stuff he couldn’t work out in his other projects.
I want to like this record, but unfortunately there are plenty of tracks like “A Ghost” and “It Falls Apart” that just feel dull and uninteresting. The less said about the bland and horribly boring “Lockless” the better off we all are. You tend to lose interest towards the end.
I was hoping for better things as I’ve always like the Whigs and Dulli as a vocalist and a writer. Ultimately, one gets set up for quite an interesting disc and what you get is a colossal disappointment and a record that’s better left to the clearance bin of 2020 than any best of list.
