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Two Gallants: Challenge The Familiar

By: Julie Simmons

Tuesday January 18, 2005

Two Gallants' songwriter Adam Stevens sings dark tales "out of character." His writing style not only disturbed my predilections about how songs should be sung, it told me more about this promising act than I expected.
When I was younger, I would draw pencil sketches of a boy with watermelon- shaped eyes and a tear dangling from a thick lash or, I'd scrawl poetry in the first person about a suicidal girl who felt isolated. Developmentally, it was a common case of an identity crisis. So, when I first listened to the lyrics of Two Gallant's debut album The Throes some of it reminded me of my youth. Songwriter Adam Stevens' was singing dark tales "out of character." His writing style not only disturbed my predilections about how songs should be sung, it told me more about this promising act than I expected.

With Dylanesque, nasal rancidity, the raconteur sings, "But come the dawn, I'll clean my teeth, flower up my breast, take off my faded apron, put on my Sunday best." Exactly why would this 23-year-old, blond-haired male assume the first person voice of a jilted woman? "I don't pretend to know what it's like to be a woman in the late 1800's or early 1900's, but I'm interested in the topic," Stevens states flatly. I can't tell if questioning him on the matter has made him defensive, humbled or if he's spinning a web on the other line. Instead of directing his complaint towards me, he asserts generally speaking, "I wish that people would approach songs like they do books, but most listeners expect all songs to be autobiographical." Huh. That was an interesting point, I admitted. It reminded me of Mary Shelley who wrote from the point of view of Robert Walton in Frankenstein . But, I digress.

Although I remain intrigued by the invitation to approach music like a book, I find it almost impossible to do so. In a novel, strong dialogue and character development usually results in a voice generated by the reader's mind. (Even now, you've implemented a reading voice that is either your own or perhaps the voice you've assigned to me based on my name, if nothing else). In other words, imagination is required when reading; which is probably why the book is always better than the movie. The moment prose crosses over into performance -- just as when a song is recorded - the mind is no longer required to invent a voice but it continues to seek a mental picture of that character. Is this desire for authenticity wrong?

It's an artist's duty to challenge the Familiar. And, as such, there are a few examples of musicians attempting to sing out of character. Native New Jersey legend Bruce Springsteen transformed himself into a Mexican immigrant on "The Ghost of Tom Joad" and into a female attendant on "Car Wash". More recently, Sally Timms' recent LP, Him is almost entirely written by men yet sung by Timms. Recently, the female artist told HARP magazine why she chose this voice, "I've always felt a bit like a man trapped in a woman's body. As I started gathering more songs, I realized that there was a theme emerging, and that theme was 'men explaining themselves to women.'"

I could irresponsibly theorize that Stevens holds some secret fascination with Victorian women cinched by whalebone corsets, but his voice speaks for more than just women. He recounted a recent performance: "We're working on a new song that's written from the point of view of a black slave before the Civil War. When I use the "n" word in the first person, I can tell it makes audiences uncomfortable. I'm not trying to shock anyone or provide any answers about race relations by singing about the Civil War. I'm just trying to encourage awareness."

When asked why he was so interested in the Civil War, he described how the events of the past still haunt society and consequently, influence his perceptions. Without purporting himself to be a victim, he repeatedly described how America's past has "betrayed" him. He concluded, "I didn't ask to be a white male and I'm not saying I feel guilty for being born this way. But because I was, society will treat me differently than they will someone who was born black. That's just a fact."

It's important to note that while I challenge Stevens for occasionally singing on behalf of tragic, fictional characters of past generations, the album warrants merit. Only a fraction of their songs play part in this masquerade, the rest represent more traditional but, nonetheless, flavorful songwriting. Despite which character is singing, Drummer and backing vocalist Tyson Vogel and Stevens play with a lustful rawness that shreds guitar strings and a pure artistic energy that darkly and deeply discolors the skin of a drum kit. Together, they share the enthusiasm of Omaha's emo rock style but because of their unique time travel signature, they are uniquely anachronistic. On every occasion I've had to put Two Gallants in rotation during a social gathering, it's The Throes that brings the room to a hush and elicits the question, "Who is this?" I have to choose whether to address the question directly or metaphorically. Here is my answer: Two Gallants is a great new band that will remind you of a time when you didn't exist or a time when you existed as someone who enjoyed putting on masks for others.



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