The Twilight Singers - Powder Burns

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Plenty to stir you

Twilight Singers supremo Greg Dulli has received rave reviews for 'Powder Burns', which has been hailed by some as a return to form. But for anyone who's followed his career from the Afghan Whigs right up to here, Dulli's status as a master of small hours drama was never in doubt, and 'Powder Burns' is just as good as the previous albums he released which didn't figure as high on the music press' radar.

Recorded in Milan, Brooklyn, Los Angeles and New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, it finds Dulli joined by guests Ani DiFranco, Joseph Arthur and former Whigs bassist John Curley. The result is an album that gathers together all Dulli's styles and sentiments - sad songs, slow songs, fast songs, defiant songs - and whose magic often creeps up on you.

While 'Underneath the Waves' and 'Dead to Rights' sound too close to what Dulli has done before, their familiarity is cancelled out by the brilliance of his collaboration with Ani DiFranco on the broody 'Forty Dollars' and the back-for-more swagger of 'My Time Has Come'. The rest have plenty to stir you too.

Yet another sublime piece of work. How Dulli remains largely a cult act is one of those mysteries you keep hoping more people will solve.

Harry Guerin

Tracklisting: Toward the Waves - I'm Ready - There's Been an Accident - Bonnie Brae - Forty Dollars - Candy Cane Crawl - Underneath the Waves - My Time (Has Come) - Dead to Rights - Conversation - Powder Burns - I Wish I Was