"Maybe we're not strangers after all..."

The venue looked sort of like a big unfinished basement. The only difference was that this one had a stage at one end and a bar at the other. In between the bar and the stage, there were numerous bookshelves and fixed chairs interspersed with loose seats. The Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville is the closest thing to my personal approximation of what it was like to be in a coffee shop in Greenwich Village during the heyday of folk music. The Dutchess and the Duke are the kind of band that helped to reinforce that feeling. Walking into the venue a little before 10:30PM, I was under the assumption that the above band was the second band on the lineup. When I found out that was not the case, I was somewhat relieved. While I love music, I am not a huge fan of sitting through some band that I don't know waiting for the band I really want to see. Over the years, I've seen some pretty terrible opening bands so it was nice to avoid that for a change As I settled down in front of the stage with my beer, I wondered why not one else was sitting as close as I was. When the three band members (two actual members and a third from the second band) carried their acoustic guitars out and urged everyone to move up, I started to get an idea of what we were in for that evening.

Since She's the Dutchess, He's the Duke came out in July, it has been in steady rotation for my late night, pre-sleep music. Their sound is a throwback to a time when music was simpler and their recording techniques put that on display. The album sounds like the Dutchess and the Duke were sitting on my couch and I had microphones setup directly in front of them recording whatever came out of their mouths and instruments. The music also sounds familiar without being super derivative or formulaic, which is pretty difficult to pull off these days. This isn't your typical acoustic duo. Two guitars, two voices and a gentleman playing some light percussion. There were no microphones, no pretenses and no frills. They sat on the edge of the stage and played. There were some drinks, some jokes about port wine and even some audience participation. While that portion of the evening was the low point (how do bands always manage to pull the one guy out of the crowd without any semblance of rhythm?), they managed to plow through 11 songs in about 45 minutes. The harmonies came through as pure and the guitar work was crisp and precise. They weren't always totally in tune, but we didn't care. With stripped down instrumentation, the songs came through with even more impact. With a band like this, I would not want it any other way. Plus, I'm a sucker for attractive woman that can either sing or play guitar. Kimberly (The Dutchess) can do both.

Highlights for me were "Strangers" and "I'm Just a Ghost". The former ends with what is one of my favorite lines of recent memory "Well I've added up all the things you've done and I've taken a good look at the man that I've become. And maybe we're not strangers after all..." The latter starts off sounding positively like a ballad. But as the song moves forward, the intensity builds until the release of the group harmonizing on the phrase "I am just a ghost..." over and over. In the intimate, basement-like setting of the Gravity Lounge, it felt almost like a church hymn. And with the end of that song, the show was over.

I spoke with Jesse (The Duke) afterwards as I was buying a copy of their album (I held out because I was hoping they would have vinyl and they did). He is heading back to Seattle after they finish up this little tour in a couple of weeks and going back to school. Hearing things like that out of a band always scares me a little bit because you never know if that means they are done, but he assured me they are planning on writing another album. It would be a serious shame if they did not. A band like this deserves to get more attention, but you always run the risk of them getting too big for certain venues. The trouble with a band like The Dutchess and the Duke is what happens when their crowds get too large for a place like Gravity Lounge. You know how certain bands just don't seem right in particular venues? You wouldn't really want to see these guys in the 9:30 Club without more of a legit backing band and I think they would lose some appeal in that kind of setup. Maybe that's just me wanting them to come back to Charlottesville and play the same place again sometime. Or maybe I just can't stand going to the 9:30 Club anymore. Either way, everyone needs to give The Dutchess and the Duke a shot.

http://www.myspace.com/thedutchessandtheduke
http://hardlyart.com/dutchess_duke.html