* En anglais uniquement
Although launched as a side project during
Greg Dulli's time with
the Afghan Whigs,
the Twilight Singers became
Dulli's main band after
the Whigs broke up in 2001.
Dulli formed the group in 1997, while
the Afghan Whigs were busy extracting themselves from a contract with their third label, Elektra. Enlisting a group of musicians -- including Harold Chichester of
Howlin' Maggie,
Shawn Smith of
Brad,
the Screaming Trees'
Barrett Martin, and a group of New Orleans session players --
Dulli recorded a concept album. By the time it was finished, though,
the Whigs had signed to
Columbia Records, whose executives thought it best to issue a new
Whigs album before any solo effort.
After
the Afghan Whigs released
1965,
Dulli returned to his
Twilight Singers recordings and reconceived the earlier solo project with the British remix team
Fila Brazillia (
Steve Cobby and Dave McSherry).
Columbia released the resulting album,
Twilight as Played by the Twilight Singers, in September 2000. Three years later, following
the Whigs' split,
Dulli and his new band issued the critically acclaimed
Blackberry Belle, which was followed in 2004 by
She Loves You, a collection of cover material.
Dulli, who had always had a fairly heavy drug habit, began to clean up his act and write songs for
the Twilight Singers' fourth album, 2006's
Powder Burns, which included appearances from ex-
Afghan Whig John Curley,
Queens of the Stone Age's
Dave Catching,
Joseph Arthur, and
Ani DiFranco. A majority of the album was recorded in producer
Mike Napolitano's studio in New Orleans, which had survived Hurricane Katrina but required generators to run it.
Later that year, the five-song EP
A Stitch in Time -- which included original tracks and cover songs, including unique takes on
Massive Attack's "Live with Me" and
Fat Freddy's Drop's "Flashback (both featuring
Mark Lanegan, who also played alongside
Greg Dulli in
the Gutter Twins) -- was released, followed by a CD release in early 2007. Although
Dulli continued devoting time to other projects, including
the Gutter Twins' 2008 release,
Saturnalia, he also made time for
the Twilight Singers, resulting in 2011's
Dynamite Steps. The group's tour in support of
Dynamite Steps was documented with the album Live in New York, released in late 2011. ~ William Ruhlmann & Marisa Brown