The Dutchess and The Duke.  These guys are a mildly gimmicky artist choice–like Jeremy Jay, their name employs some serious assonance, and that’s about as thoughtful as this one gets.  It’s summertime so I don’t advise thinking too hard, but you might also consider that their names start with D, rather than J, and D is six letters away from J and I’ve completed exactly six guten Morgan posts.  Plus June just ended and that’s the sixth month of the year. 

Anyway, I don’t think that The Dutchess and The Duke want you thinking too hard either.  Their myspace page summarizes the music perfectly as “campfire punk”; it’s custom built to be listened to in the woods or on a beach, fire pit handy, mono speaker crackling softly.  I’m a huge fan of “The Duke’s” prior band, The Fall-Outs, and I’m reasonably down with last year’s accoustic/folk music trend, but I really didn’t grasp the full extent of the band’s charms until I played the album at a beachside pool-party almost exactly a year ago today. 

Coastal drives in an old station wagon, burned hot dogs, and dirty keds with no socks.  The Dutchess and The Duke are the sound of summer, or at least a bygone version of summer shot un-ironically in super 8 film.

The Dutchess and The Duke doesn’t really record singles.  Instead,  the album coagulates into a whole, as various tracks drift together into a lazy mess.  For the simple pleasures that this band aims to evoke, She’s The Dutchess, He’s The Duke is an essentially perfect, fat-free album.  I’d advise everyone to buy or illegally download a copy and play it start to finish as the soundtrack to your long weekend, wherever you are. 

That said, I’ve chosen a couple of standouts and posted them below.

• Reservoir Park Reservoir Park
• Armageddon Song Armageddon Song
• Strangers Strangers