The Gutter Twins - "Idle Hands" (live)

Let Your Hands,Do What They Will Do

"My idle hands/ they're the devil's play things," Mark Lanegan sings on "Idle Hands," packing all the energy you'd expect from two nineties icons. Fittingly enough, Lanegan and his musical partner Greg Dulli have found much to do with their hands over the past couple of decades. They've made amazing music (Dulli with the Afghan Whigs and Twilight Singers; Lanegan with Screaming Trees, as a solo artist, and in collaborations with Queens of the Stone Age, Isobel Campbell, Soulsavers, and the Twilight Singers). They've both battled and exorcised their demons, and even spent some time in, well, the gutter. Thus, the Gutter Twins seems a rather sufficient title for their first full-length collaboration.

At times, it seems hard to imagine how these two could be so close. Lanegan comes off as a quiet soul - his voice is deep and haunting, and on-stage he barely moves, and never speaks, only opening his mouth to sing. Dulli on the other hand is boisterous, blending a seemingly impossible concoction of machismo and flamboyance. Their voices are not at all similar, yet together they create something intense and powerful. There is a darkness and a sadness in their voices that always comes through. Lanegan with his constant use of religious imagery seems to be in search of salvation. Dulli always seems conflicted about his own masculinity. Both seem to be fighting off their vices. But with that also comes the sound of survival. Dulli and Lanegan's survival exists on multiple levels - both gained notoriety in the nineties grunge era, yet they have continued to make strong work, while their contemporaries have fallen off the map. Despite their vices, both have survived through addiction while many of their counterparts did not. All comes through in Saturnalia - a record that triumphs in its darkness.

"Oh heaven/ it's quite a climb," Lanegan sings on "Seven Stories Underground," one of many songs that invokes religion. Lanegan previously invoked the theme of religious salvation on his 2007 collaboration with SoulSavers, It's Now How Far You Fall, It's the Way You Land. Opener "The Stations" introduces these religious themes:

I hear the rapture's coming, they say he'll be here soon
Right now there's demons crawling all around my room
They say he lives within us, they say for me he died
And now I hear his footsteps almost every night

Thankfully, the duo never stray into "Chrsitian rock" territory, but still do maintain a listening experience that is a bit spiritual.

I would not suggest this as a starting point if you are not too familiar with either's work. For that, I would steer you towards Lanegan's Bubblegum and the Twilight Singers' Blackberry Belle. For those who are familiar, Saturnalia is another great chapter in what has been two amazing musical careers.

MP3 - "Idle Hands"

Video: "Revival" - Soulsavers featuring Mark Lanegan

On the new Soulsavers record - It's Not How Far You Fall, It's The Way You Land - N&UR fave Mark Lanegan sings lead vocals on 8 of 11 tracks. "Revival" is a definite highlight.

Review: Ballad of the Broken Seas / Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan

Available Tuesday, March 7

Isobel Campbell once played in Belle and Sebastian; she describes her voice as angelic. Mark Lanegan fronted Screaming Trees and played with Queens of the Stone Age; his voice is dark and rough, channeling Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave. Together, they make incredible music. Recording Ballad of the Broken Seas often apart from one another, the theme that strings these tracks together is distance. When Lanegan asks, "Where have you been, my darling/Where have you been, my friend," on "The False Husband," it is possible that he is singing of a lover miles away on the "broken seas." But what seems more likely is that the distance that exists here is one of a failure to communicate. The way their two voices clash, yet blend so beautifully, suggests the story of a relationship, with both parties holding out despite what they know will be the inevitable end. The story is heartbreaking and gorgeous.

The record's first half is about sadness, yet by the time a Hank Williams cover rolls around, Lanegan is completely unapologetic about his failings - "I love you baby/But you must understand/When the lord made me/He made a ramblin' man." A song later, however (on "Come Walk with Me"), both are agreeing that they can't "say they'll be true," but declare, "you're my guiding north star/and my love travels with you wherever you are." Instrumental "It's Hard to Kill a Bad Thing" (with its pretty strings and acoustic guitar) and "Honey Child What Can I Do" take an optimistic, upbeat tone, and by album's end it seems like they are going to try and make things work.

Ultimately this record tells the story of two who cannot live with one another, but cannot stand the idea of being apart. The pairing of Campbell and Lanegan is an unlikely one, but works better than one could possibly imagine. It is rare these days for records to tell stories, but this is one you can really get lost in.

4 (out of 5)

::1 Related Link::
1•Isobel Campbell's My Space Page