SoundProof - Live: The Gutter Twins

Over two-and-a-half years: That’s how long I was anticipating the coming of The Gutter Twins. The duo, made up of formerly - Afghan - Whigs - now - Twilight - Singers lead man Greg Dulli and former - Screaming - Trees - now - solo - maverick singer Mark Lanegan, have been promising longstanding fans that Saturnalia would come out about a year ago. But considering that Lanegan pulled out a duo project with Isobel Campbell (the angel voice formerly of Belle and Sebastian fame) beforehand and Dulli released the Singers’ darkest album to date, Powder Burns, it’s understandable that it’s been a long time coming. Still, after Great Northern opened up for the pair, it was clear that when the R&B/rock combo took the stage, this was gonna be one hell of a show.

Flanking each end of the stage, Dulli and Lanegan entered stoic, almost serene, only to tear into “Idle Hands” with such ferocity and sheer passion that I could feel the entire room reverberating with dark sounds and sinful thoughts. Covering primarily new material (which Dulli playfully pointed out would be the only thing we’d get, while Lanegan chose not to speak at all the entire night), they did “All Misery/Flowers” next, which illustrated the perfect pairing of these two unbelievably powerful vocal talents. All muddled together like honey and turpentine. “God’s Children” and “The Stations” were equally as invading, expressing all the dark, morose and intensely noir themes that only two forty-something ex-heavy drinkin’ drug addicts could possibly cover with such truth and voracity.

The highlights abounded during the show, including an exquisite cover of Jose Gonzales’ “Down The Line,” which broke apart the gentle sound of the track and replaced it with a deep, almost forcefully brute tone which sounded like pure longing. Dulli did it serious justice. The boys then decided to follow up with “I Was in Love with You,” the sole ballad on Saturnalia. The combination of these two songs just blew me away.

The ultimate part of this show, however, had to be the encore. My God: 45 minutes of Dulli and Lanegan interloping the best of their older material. I had the good fortune to see Dulli tour with The Twilight Singers when they were last in town, and let me tell you kids, you have no idea what it is to hear this man sing material off of Blackberry Belle or Twilight as Played by The Twilight Singers. Hearing “Papillion” is one thing, but having Dulli backed by Lanegan on “King Only,” which he opened up with the first stanza of the classic hymnal “Amazing Grace,” was enough to make me smear my mascara. Hearing Lanegan’s “Hit the City” was equally fantastic.

Topping it off with the beautiful and haunting track “Blackberry Belle,” that was the end of it. I could see girls around me holding their hands to their throats, some as teary-eyed as me. What can I say? I’m a sentimental woman. And when it comes to pulling out emotion through song, Dulli is a master. Combining his talent with the tour de force that is Lanegan? Jesus, we never stood a chance.