Crime & The City Solution

Now 23 years after the release of their dystopian masterpiece Paradise Discotheque, Antipodean avatars and partners Simon Bonney (vocals) and Bronwyn Adams (violin) are back on a spree, alongside bandmate Alexander Hacke (guitar) and his spouse, visual artist Danielle de Picciotto (harp). Having moved their digs to Detroit and hooked up with Wovenhand’s David Eugene Edwards (guitar), The Dirty Three’s Jim White (drums), The Witches’ Troy Gregory (bass), and Outrageous Cherry’s Matthew Smith (keyboards), the latest guitar-driven lineup of Crime & The City Solution has concocted an epic comeback album in American Twilight, replete with reverb, funky horn bridges, and gospel choruses. By mixing Southern gothic musings (“Streets of West Memphis”), Nietzschean ruminations (“Beyond Good and Evil”), and Motor City madness (“American Twilight”), an overall theme of decaying splendor emerges. Shamanic and poetic as ever, Bonney shines on opening track “Goddess.” But that’s only the beginning of this dusky beauty of an album.