The elements that collide to create the Dutchess and the Duke’s songs are glorious individually but slightly odd when tossed together.
Linear lyrics that aren’t afraid of going meta. Expansive, wall-of-sound production. Simple, if addictive, vocal harmonies. Guitar solos mimicking ’50s-rock simplicity. Indifferent lead vocal delivery. Intoxicating, candied melodies.
It doesn’t make sense on paper, but on quarter-inch tape, it’s one of the freshest combos in rock ‘n’ roll. Singer-songwriter Jesse Lortz is as prolific as any of his Seattle neighbors. And with the help of his friend and bandmate Kimberly Morrison, he is more consistent than most other indie- rock bands these days.
The Dutchess and the Duke’s summertime debut, “She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke,” was the No. 1 record of 2008, according to this music critic. And their follow-up, the month-old “Sunset/Sunrise,” is every bit as mysterious and captivating. Lortz and Morrison make perfect sense together, something Denver audiences will see when the duo play the Larimer Lounge on Wednesday. We spoke with Lortz about his love of graphic design, his fear of being known and his impatience with folks who mistake musicians for superheroes.
Q: Sounds like you and Kimberly had a good time making a very different record with “Sunset/ Sunrise.”
A: It is pretty different than the first one, but I think it’s an actual progression. I hope we didn’t overdo it. I hope it’s not too different.
Q: You’re in school now?
A: I actually got an extension because four weeks before school, my wife had a kid. He’s 3 1/2 months, and now I can stay home and keep an eye on him. I’m going to Central, a community college, and doing graphic design.
Q: Do you handle all your CD art and posters and such?
A:I do all the packaging. And with this new CD, it was nice to do something crazy, because a lot of it has to do with people getting to the point where they’re not going to buy a CD if it’s simple packaging. We wanted to do something special with the packaging so somebody might pick it up rather than download it.
Q: Do the kids in your classes know about your music?
A:Yeah, especially after last summer, when we did a tour with Fleet Foxes that got a lot of press. When I came back to school, it was like, “How was it touring with the Fleet Foxes?” It’s not like I’m a celebrity or anything, but it’s also nice to lead separate lives or have little compartments.
Q: It seems like you and Kimberly have known each other for a while, and maybe even worked together musically before?
A: We grew up together. In high school we knew each other and played in some bands, and when I started this project, she was a natural choice.
Q: I’ve seen you guys a couple times, and you all aren’t afraid to have a back-and- forth with the audience.
A: Some people think that just because you’re in a band and you play music, that you’re something so different. They expect you to be unreal, but we also get frustrated and irritated and have bad days. We have fun, too, but just because we get up onstage, it doesn’t mean we stop living or whatever.
Q: What was so tough about that first big tour you all took?
A: We ended up going on tour with this band that nobody was coming to see, and we got flipped to the headliners. The guy we were touring with, his whole band left him, and his wife left him — and we were traveling with this band. And there were a bunch of hurricanes that summer, and we were going in and out of that crazy weather. And one of our friends had a seizure in his brain when we were in Atlanta, and we ended up watching him die during that tour. We’d call every night — and we were all going through (stuff) with our partners, because we’d toured so much that summer. But it also made us come together as friends, me and Kimberly.
Read the full interview on The Post’s music blog, Reverb:
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com
“THE DUTCHESS AND THE DUKE.”
Indie rock. Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer St., with Greg Ashley and Flashbulb Fires. Wednesday. 9 p.m. $10.
