The Dresden Dolls

Yes, Virginia

[5/5] No other lyricist in rock conveys the sexual spectrum’s dirty little complexities like the Dresden Dolls’ Amanda Palmer. On the duo’s second album, Yes, Virginia, the singer/keyboardist purrs in anticipation of the day’s “First Orgasm,” uses double entendres to remind us that “sex will change you” (“Sex Changes”) and gently assesses (in “Shores Of California”) that, throughout the nation, “the girls are crying and the boys are masturbating,” selling her stories with the emotional intensity of an actress in an Oscar-worthy clip. The Dolls’ music, too, is as gripping as ever: Drummer Brian Viglione’s spare, steady beats and occasional pyrotechnics (check out the speed-metal break in “Modern Moonlight”) gracefully punctuate Palmer’s piercing piano trills, tango-jazz tangents and classically informed melodies. And given that Palmer’s characters are as tortured and complex as the thorniest art-house-cinema creations, creating such a dramatic backdrop on just two instruments is no small feat.(ROADRUNNER) Andrew Miller