Evelyn Evelyn - Evelyn Evelyn

[Music Head]

released Mar 30th, 2010



from the album - You Only Want Me 'Cause You Want My Sister

YouTube - Evelyn Evelyn - You Only Want Me Cause You Want My Sister

from all music

A collaboration between the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer and experimental musician Jason Webley, Evelyn Evelyn revolves around the concept of conjoined twin sisters Eva and Lyn Neville, who play cabaret-inspired music with fittingly close harmonies. Palmer and Webley formed the project in 2007, saying they “discovered” the Neville sisters via MySpace messages from the pair, who were born Parapagus Tripus Dibrachius twins and shared three legs, two arms, two hearts, three lungs and a liver. They appeared in a traveling circus from age 11 to 19, but Webley and Palmer rescued them and helped them record an album. The EP Elephant Elephant appeared in 2007 and was a limited edition of 1,111 copies released via Webley’s 11 Records imprint. Tegan and Sara and Frances Bean Cobain were among the artists who also appeared on Evelyn Evelyn’s self-titled debut, which arrived in 2010; a graphic novel illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler and published by Dark Horse Press.

album review

Amanda Palmer has never shied away from the theatrical, but Evelyn Evelyn, her project with experimental musician Jason Webley, is among her most conceptual -- and entertaining -- music. The story of conjoined twin orphans Eva and Lyn, who share three legs, two arms, two hearts, three lungs, a liver, and a melodramatic life, Evelyn Evelyn is equal parts rock opera, radio play, cabaret drama, old-timey mischief, and self-aware performance art. The twins’ tale is a riveting one (so much so that it spawned an accompanying graphic novel), filled with unfortunate twists of fate, seedy proprietors, and disappearing benefactors. Palmer and Webley craft a world fraught with doubles and dualities, from the Twix bar with which the girls are lured into a seedy home for girls who cater to adults with “unique” tastes, to the two-headed elephant Eva and Lyn care for during their time at Dillard and Fullerton’s Traveling Circus. Musically, Evelyn Evelyn spans the whimsy of “Elephant Elephant” and “Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn?,” which gives the Ditty Bops a three-legged run for their money, to the self-aware hucksterism of “A Campaign of Shock and Awe,” which touts Evelyn Evelyn’s music as it name-checks Spin, The New Yorker, and Pitchfork. Though narrative tracks like “The Tragic Events of September, Pt. 1” keep the story moving, some of the album’s best songs take tangents. “You Only Want Me ‘Cause You Want My Sister” uses Evelyn Evelyn’s unique situation to tap into the vulnerability everyone feels in a relationship; “My Space” sets the desires to be alone and friends with everyone to a new wave-tinged power ballad that nods to the theme from Cheers. Always clever and sometimes much more than that, Evelyn Evelyn uses its high-concept nature not just to tell a cracking tale, but to get to deeper truths in a fresh way.

Track Listing

1."Evelyn Evelyn" - 4:36
2."A Campaign of Shock and Awe" - 2:41
3."The Tragic Events of September Part I" - :
4."Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn?" - 2:14
5."Chicken Man" - 3:09
6."Tragic Events Part II" - 11:12
7."Sandy Fishnets" - 7:15
8."Elephant Elephant" - 2:26
9."You Only Want Me 'Cause You Want My Sister" - 2:53
10."Tragic Events Part III" - 4:22
11."My Space" - 5:22
12."Love Will Tear Us Apart" - 2:50