Over the years, hundreds – what the heck – thousands of sister acts have come and gone on the music scene. But I’m guessing there’s never been one quite like Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley’s latest “discovery” – Evelyn Evelyn.
Not since the days of vaudeville sensations Violet and Daisy Hilton, stars of the 1951 exploitation shocker “Chained for Life,” has the world had the pleasure of enjoying the musical stylings of conjoined twin “sisters.”
The singer/songwriter duo released a self-titled debut album earlier this week that displays a huge variety of influences from Joy Division to the Andrews Sisters to “We Are The World” and “Hands Across America.”
Nowhere is this diversity more evident than in the first single from the disc, “My Space,” a “commentary on social networking in the vein of an ’80s power ballad.”
With heartfelt lyrics like “I just want to go where nobody knows my name / And no one notices or cares whether I came” and “I just want my friends all together in one place / I just want control over how they see my face” and soaring instrumentals that sound like they were provided by a vintage Casio keyboard, the song is sure to elicit a strong reaction from fans.
Other tracks on the album include the vaudeville-style “Have You Seen My Evelyn?,” the off-kilter “Elephant Elephant,” and the brooding, completely unhinged country-tinged tear-jerker “You Only Want Me ‘Cause You Want My Sister.”
But the project’s high point – and undoubtedly its diseased heart – is a ukulele rendition of Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” that’s destined to send thousands of black-eyelinered, lace-and-silver-jewelry-wearing teens into an identity crisis of epic proportions.
If the music of Evelyn Evelyn drives you to find out more about these enigmatic and somehow tragic sisters, you’re in luck.
The duo (or are conjoined twins a solo act?) is about to embark on their first tour ever, which kicks off April 12 at Oberon in Cambridge, Mass., and will make its way across the U.S. and Canada.
The trek includes a number of multiple night stands including May 22-23 at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, May 26-27 at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles and June 8-13 at Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City.
For more info on Evelyn Evelyn, including additional insight into the world of conjoined twins, visit EvelynEvelyn.com.
To download the track “My Space” right click and choose “Save Link As” or “Save Target As”
Now where’s Todd Browning when you need him?