Did You Kill Amanda Palmer?

Album: Who Killed Amanda Palmer?
Artist: Amanda Palmer
Genre: Dark Cabaret
Year: 2008
Label: Roadrunner

I’m completely brain-fried and trying to write coherently at some obscene hour of the night. Because when the itch gets a hold of you, you gotta follow it through to the end. Amanda Palmer is one half of the Dark Cabaret Punk duo The Dresden Dolls and responsible for some fairly iconoclastic music. Her voice, both musically and literally speaking, is unique. Her most recent release is her debut “solo” album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? which is something of a departure from the Dolls, but what kind is hard to pin down.

The obvious question for artists with established bands doing solo projects is this: does it sound different from their usual work? In this case the answer is yes, this does not sound like a Dresden Dolls album, but it’s a subtle distinction. At first it might not be obvious, it’s still Amanda Palmer and there are still drums and piano, the only instruments of the Dolls, but when you listen closer, you realize that this album has much more orchestration then anything the Dolls have released. The Dresden Dolls are almost minimalist in sound compared to this album, which swoops and sings with string arrangements, augmenting the already powerful force of Palmer’s piano playing. It’s not just strings though. The sound is considerably bigger then the Dolls albums as you have much larger ensembles playing on any given track. East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys plays on “Guitar Hero” and the Born Again Horny Men of Edinburgh provide a great brass band backing on the song “Leeds United.” There are other guests, Zoë Keating (who provides many of the aforementioned strings), Ben Folds (who co-produced the album with Palmer) and August Strindberg (who stops in to talk about sulfur and iron). And there is something about the rhythm of the album that makes it sound different than that of a Dolls album. Maybe it’s because Brian Viglione (Palmers partner and drummer in the Dresden Dolls) isn’t on here or maybe it’s because Palmer has more (or on some tracks, less) to work with then just the drums, but this album feels slower in many places. Even the faster tracks have a different feel to them. It’s a really subtle, but important difference.

But despite the large orchestration, the guests and bigger sound, this album often feels lonelier than a Dresden Dolls album. This is probably the most difficult thing to explain. Maybe it’s the goal of the solo album, to feel bigger yet lonelier or maybe it’s just because Palmer’s without Viglione for the first time in while, whatever it is, it works to differentiate the album further. Some things remain the same though. Palmer’s voice is not your typical polished perfect pop star voice; it’s rough around the edges but also very beautiful. And that’s a good thing. It gives her a distinct presence in the world of music, which has enough pop princesses to begin with. So in the end will we ever truly know Who Killed Amanda Palmer? Probably not, but that’s ok, the world needs more mysteries.