Let the People Speak

Where Grand Duchy's first album Petit Fours felt like a sampler of all the different directions the band could pursue, Let the People Speak finds Violet Clark coming into her own as a songwriter and performer. It may not be coincidental that she wrote many of these songs while Frank Black was on tour with the Pixies; at any rate, he takes a more subordinate role on this album which lets Clark's abilities shine, particularly on "See-Thru You," which has more bite than all of Petit Fours combined and on "White Out," where her jagged vocals and riffs bounce over a Motorik-tinged rhythm. There's a lot more personality on Let the People Speak -- or maybe that should be personalities: not only does Clark adopt many more musical personae than she did before, the album also features voice-overs from Phoenix DJ Jonathan L, whose smoky ramblings are sometimes clever, sometimes too self-referential, but nevertheless a distinct artistic choice. This ambition also pops up on "Dark Sparkles and the