Evelyn Evelyn

Evelyn Evelyn

(Eleven)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

First thought after learning about this concept is something along the lines of the movie Brothers Of The Hand which featured a punk band (The Bang Bang) fronted by conjoined twins, but here you take out the punk and add some indie folk instead.

If you haven’t heard, Evelyn Evelyn is a conjoined twin duo who play piano, ukulele, accordion, and other instruments. Singing songs that tend to hit along the lines of an Andrews Sisters Joy Division carnival ride car crash. Evelyn Evelyn is actually Amanda Palmer, she of the Dresden Dolls, and Jason Webley, he of the very Tom Waits sounding gypsy punk sea shanties.

To me, it feels like even though you are supposed to listen to this as if it’s a new release from a recently discovered pair of musical talents, Evelyn and Evelyn Neville, it seems to play out as if it’s a musical, a dark cabaret rock opera that is actually based upon the life of the twins. It’s not quite an Amanda Palmer or a Jason Webley album, but it’s not quite Evelyn Evelyn either… if that makes sense.

(I would also just like to make a note that Mr. Webley is slightly obsessed with the number eleven. Just saying.)

This album feels almost like it could be playing against a film. Something like Sweeney Todd (the Depp version). Touches of that Stephen Sondheim sound pushing against the notes and duets. It’s a carnival ride, it’s a circus in hell, it’s a soundtrack for the shadows that dance. The music pulls against the past, but the lyrics put the songs in the immediate right now. References to Spin and Rolling Stone, St. Elmo’s Fire, and, of course, “the tragic events of September, Evelyn…”

It’s a bit strange on the mind, because it’s not like listening to something old, nor is it something new. It’s also, at times, like listening to a radio play, which can be very distracting if you’re trying to work.

There are definitely hits of the Andrews Sisters, if they were into freaks and oddities, and there are also hints of bands like 16 Horsepower, if you can imagine 16 Horsepower getting together with the Kids In The Hall and singing about the Chicken Man.