Duchess Issue #26

Duchess (Blackball)

By Katrina Martin Davenport
Published: December 1st, 2005 | 12:49pm

Duchess is a little Chan Marshall and a smidge Liz Phair with a dusting of PJ Harvey. You might think this makes it good, but really, it actually makes the band sound unoriginal.

Album opener “Diamond Ring” includes simple chords and even simpler lyrics: “Baby you don’t have to bring me a diamond ring / Baby you don’t have to bring me anything / All I wanted was for us to be free.” That’s about as far as the lyrics go. The song mostly works by relying on the caustic tone in lead singer Christy Schnabel’s vocals and the swirling guitars backing her to make an impact. I found myself enjoying the song as an angry ‘fuck you’ mostly for one line, when Schnabel adds a slight variation to the lyrics and sings, “Baby you don’t have to bring me a goddamn thing,” at the end — I could almost get into it.

The thing is, that’s about the extent of the album’s greatness, which, following “Diamond Ring,” devolves into “Little Lion,” a song that defies classification. It’s the little “la-las” that pop into the background, making it sound like a bad ’50s-rock knock-off that doesn’t work. “Cry an Ocean” is pleasant listening, with harmonica and a nice acoustic groove, but it belongs on a different record. “Shine, Shine” has groovy guitars that remind me of Blondie or even old-school Madonna, but again, they’re more derivative than anything. On this self-titled disc, eclecticism is the main drawback — the record needs more of a unifying sound, something that would make Duchess stand out. Better luck next time.