Album Details

• Artist: Amanda Palmer
• Album: Who Killed Amanda Palmer
• Label:
• Year of Release: 2008
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: tosnob on 2009-04-07

Produced by piano man Ben Folds, the album is a stripped down version of the Goth/punk cabaret that we've come to expect from the Dresden Dolls. Piano and strings are the main instruments used here.

Unfortunately, the songs are fairly unimaginative. We get neither the perky yet perverted tracks that we would get from the Dolls or anything wholly divergent that we'd hope for from a solo record. In essence, it's almost as though Palmer and Folds have been sleepwalking through the recording process.

Not until the 10th track, "Oasis", does Palmer show signs of life.

Palmer's voice has never been the strongest or the prettiest, but with the Dolls her shortcomings have been masked by the dark lyrical content and the quirky instrumentation. With the more minimalist nature of this album those weaknesses are glaring for all the world to see.

There are some brief glimmering moments of hope. Palmer's staccato delivery on "Runs In the Family" is original and the horn flourish on "Leeds United" is spectacular. However, those moments are far too few and far too far between.

A new Dresden Dolls album would have been far more welcomed than this album which is little more than the Dresden Dolls boring and disinfected cousin.

The question should really be: who killed Amanda Palmer's solo record.

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