I’ve always been moved by male/female duos in rock music. Due to their ambiguous sexual connections and their vocal interplay, groups like The Vaselines and The White Stripes are suited with a charm distinct from their storied musical accomplishments. But unlike these groups who are very "of the time," Kimberly Morrison and Jesse Lortz of The Dutchess & The Duke create their own niche by adopting a traditional folk style that ostensibly blurs their place in history. Using mostly simple narrative elements, the songs tell stories and portray characters who would have made nearly as much sense a century ago as they do in today’s culture of excess.
Such is the tradition that precedes and envelops The Dutchess & The Duke on their first long player, She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke. My first exposure to the band came via last year’s 7-inch, "Reservoir Park b/w Mary." The sound was weathered and the vocals were rough; the first track had handclapping and fortunetelling, while the second featured an anatomical take on failed love. It was primitive and thoughtfully arrogant, and it left me unsuccessfully scrambling through cyberspace in search of more.
She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke opens with an updated version of “Reservoir Park”; the sounds are crisper, and much of the dust has been swept aside. The track remains fantastic, if regrettably cleaner, with foreboding images tumbling between Lortz’s gruff voice and Morrison’s country-style backings. The reprisal of “Mary” is perhaps the best take on the album, even if it’s undergone a similar refinement. It builds with commentaries aimed at an absent ex-lover and ends with Lortz repeating, “I ain’t gonna say your name no more.” The song is cleverly silent on the name, though the title is explicitly religious.
“I Am Just a Ghost” stands out amongst the new material. Its slower pace complements the duo’s fragile harmonies, giving the listener a chance to exhale before the bouncy, happy finale, “Armageddon Song.” The optimism of the ending track is a great departure from the gloomy prophecies of the opener -- the clouds have parted and the band proves itself able to make something fresh from some of the oldest traditions in popular music.
With She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke, Morrison and Lortz weave evocative, intimate tales that could have surfaced at nearly any point in American history. While most artists immerse themselves in narrow contextual signifiers to convey their ideas and sensibilities, The Dutchess & The Duke use their narrative strengths to reduce human experience to an essence, showing how it's just as important as those circumscribed by historical or geographical boundary.
More about: The Dutchess & The Duke
