Lyrically, the album is informed by two life-altering events in Dulli's life; his decision to clean-up, and Hurricane Katrina's devastating effect on his adoptive hometown of New Orleans.  Full text...

Apart from the intimate "Conversation", with its tendrils of dobro and strings, the arrangements are mostly stadium-sized, dense layers of guitars and keyboards piled up into rolling riffs which, in the opening "I'm Ready", have the heady swagger of Primal Scream.  Full text...

Powder Burns is his boldest yet: A swaggering swank-rock opera filled with gnashing guitars, theatrical string arrangements, angelic backup singers, and smoking grooves.  Full text...

On these new songs you can hear Dulli pushing himself doggedly-- to make the music sound larger and more dramatic on "Underneath the Waves" and the title track, to hit harder and heavier on "I'm Ready" and "Forty Dollars", to convey more and mean more on "Bonnie Brae" and "Candy Cane Crawl", and in general to raise the stakes both musically and thematically to a vertiginous level.  Full text...

This record is the "hardest" thing the Twilight Singers have released, but is situated squarely within the realm of anthemic arena rock, not the more straightforward stuff of Whigs nostalgics. Most of the time this works beautifully.  Full text...

Dulli's worldview remains as dark as his preferred sound, which swaggers and broods at the same time. So it's no surprise that "Forty Dollars" includes an ironic medley of Beatles lyrics, with the singer bitterly intoning, "love is all you need" and "she loves you yeah yeah yeah." Yet for all its gloom, "Powder Burns" hopes for a sunny aftermath.  Full text...

Now reportedly off drugs and recommitted to straight-ahead rock 'n' roll, Dulli has recorded the most immediately engaging Twilight Singers record yet.  Full text...

Dulli has created his most majestic, sprawling and yet intensely personal album to date.  Full text...

Sounding (at best, mind you) like an uninspired Afghan Whigs tribute band, it recycles motifs, melody lines, production tricks, and lyrics from the back catalog.  Full text...