Palmer to Release First Solo Album

One half of the creative force behind The Dresden Dolls, songstress Amanda Palmer has just released her first solo album, the provocatively titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer. Originally thought of as a small side-project, the album began as a minimal affair: Amanda decided to record a solo album for piano and voice, made in her bedroom, finished in a week. During a chance meeting with musician and piano wizard Ben Folds in Australia, the two bonded over mutual loves and suddenly the record was moved out of the bedroom and into Folds’ Nashville-based, piano-filled recording studio. With Ben Folds acting as producer, the songs on Who Killed Amanda Palmer (a name initially meant as a Twin Peaks reference that has since come to take on new meanings for Amanda) began to come alive, resulting in what is some of the best recorded work of her multi-faceted career.

Amanda Palmer

Mixing the magical and the macabre, the mundane and the sentimental, Who Killed Amanda Palmer is the culmination of nearly ten years’ worth of songwriting. Some songs on the album pop and twist with the intensity of their own subject matter while others are soft and intimate, revealing sides of Amanda not usually seen within her work in The Dresden Dolls. .

Here, the singer talks about taking a break from her Dresden Dolls partner, Brian Viglione; the power of surrendering artistic control; and the effect her sexuality has had on her gay fans.

Q: Why a solo album and why now? What can you express with a solo album that you can’t with The Dresden Dolls?
Amanda Palmer: This record had very humble beginnings. When I first conceived of doing a solo record, it was going to be a low-budget, quick and dirty affair--just a bunch of slow piano ballads. I had written a lot of songs, and a Dresden Dolls record can really only accommodate a couple of slow depressing tracks.

Q: Were there also more personal reasons for making a solo record?
AP: Well, for me, it was just a little project on the side, but as I was putting a recording schedule together, I realized that Brian and I were in desperate need of a break from the band and from each other. We had been touring relentlessly for 4 years.

Q: Did the record turn out the way you initially intended?
AP: No, not at all. I began this record because I wanted to be alone, but the way my life came together, I ended up collaborating with a large group of people. I’m touring now with 11 people--more than I ever have before. I’m not alone at all.

Q: Can you explain more about the feeling of wanting to be alone?
AP: I wanted to be able to make decisions in silence, just listening to myself. The Dresden Dolls is about me and Brian and our relationship in all the best and worst ways. You have to surrender a certain amount of control when you’re in a band. It’s part of the deal. Ironically, when I started working with Ben Folds on this record, I surrendered a ton of control. Yet, it was my control to give away if I wanted to.

Q: When I first heard that you were working with Ben Folds, I was surprised. The two of you seem so different, except for the fact that you both play piano.
AP: I know. A lot of people were scratching their heads. I always considered Ben to be genius songwriter. I could tell he was a fantastic music geek. He was the one who approached me, and he wanted to do it for all the right reasons. I had a gut instinct about the guy. Giving him control over the record and the songs felt as natural as could be.

Amanda Palmer performing with The Dresden Dolls at Kings Arms Tavern in Auckland, New Zealand, September 2004.

Q: How is this record different from The Dresden Dolls?
AP: I don’t want to say it is a much more mature record, but it sort of is. After screaming to get your point across, you either get tired or realize that screaming isn’t always the best way to get your point across. I’m not implying that The Dresden Dolls stuff is immature; it’s what we wanted to express at the time. This record just strikes me as more collected and in control, which definitely doesn’t imply better or worse.

Q: What about the imaging and photos for the album? Was it weird doing all of that by yourself?
AP: The nice thing about being solo is not having to depend on chemistry between two people to make a good photo shoot. Every Dresden Dolls photo shoot was basically about the relationship between me and Brian. The new photos are about my relationship with myself or my relationship to the camera. It’s a totally different experience.

Q: Talk about the title of the record, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, which I know is a Twin Peaks reference.
AP: Originally, it was an homage to Twin Peaks-- I’m a huge fan. But it also has a nice sense of destiny and rebirth. My ego had a very difficult time with the idea of being out front and solo. I felt ashamed saying, basically, “Here’s my CD,” rather than “I’m in a band, here’s our CD.” The title makes it more ego-less: it’s not “Amanda Palmer,” it’s “Who killed Amanda Palmer.”

Q: Last time we spoke, you talked about your bisexuality. Did you get a lot of reaction from fans about that?
AP: Definitely, but I don’t know if it’s just about being bisexual. The Dresden Dolls have some super emotional, dramatic fans, whether they’re gay or straight. My sexuality is really in the background, anyway, in my opinion. Oftentimes, my songwriting is very sexual but not necessarily sexy. I think that fact that I’m coming from a place of honesty, confusion, and catharsis speaks more to people than just the fact that I’m bisexual.

Q: Your songs often convey the darkness, fear, and anxiety that can accompany desire and sexual fantasy. I would imagine that draws people to you who are trying to figure out their sexuality or who may be trying to come to terms with being gay.
AP: It has to do with having fearlessness about your own confusion. Maybe our music provides a kind of example of that for gay people. For many of the artists that I’ve loved, I felt that if I sat down and had a drink with them, they wouldn’t judge me. There’s a sense that we’re all just trying to figure it out.