The Devil’s Own
by Anna Merlan
Last week, the country musician Charley Crockett dismissed the band Twin Temple from his upcoming tour, where they were to serve as his opener, because of their “Satanic imagery.” It seemed possible that said Satanic imagery was something Crockett had recently discovered, which is, in itself, extremely funny: Twin Temple, aka Alexandra and Zachary James, a Los Angeles-based husband/wife duo, are pretty much all Satanic imagery, because they are, quite literally, explicitly, and vocally, Satanists. (To wit: when asked if they’re Satanists by Rolling Stone, Alexandra James cheerily responded, “Hell yeah!”) Track listings include “Lucifer, My Love,” “Satan’s a Woman,” “I Am a Witch,” and, just to make things crystal-clear, “Let’s Have a Satanic Orgy.” Beyond the schtick, they’re also a very good, if somewhat derivative, band, with a melancholy ’60s doo wop vibe, silky vocals, and, of course, aesthetics to burn in a pit of fire for, all big vintage country heartthrob hair, Nudie-style suits, and at least one tremendously powerful bolo tie. Recent vinyl pressings came out in grey and orange, or, in the parlance of their online shop, “Church Fire” and “Church Smoke.” The band’s logo features not one but two inverted Satanic crosses.
All of which made it even funnier that Crockett had somehow missed the Satanism until Twin Temple were already booked onto his tour. Crockett himself has been kicking around since 2015 and has evidently produced 17 studio albums, every single one of which passed me by; he signed with his first major label, Island Records, just last year. Crockett’s bit is so generic that it’s a little harder to figure out than Twin Temple’s; a recent Pitchfork review of his album Age of the Ram calls it a “rangy, rambling set of songs about a loner who lives just outside the law, filled with nods to outlaw country icons.” Revolutionary, for sure. Crockett has claimed to be of Black, Cajun, Creole, and Jewish ancestry, as well as a descendant of Davy Crockett, all of which is a lot to get into here, but if you’re wondering if he’s drawn much from all these rich cultural traditions into his music: no. What I’ve heard, at least, is a very pleasant but undistinguished mid-tenor, moody but thematically bland country, all hard times and sleepless nights; he sounds like George Strait or Clint Black with about two-thirds of the twang surgically removed. People seem to really love Clovis, his newest album, and I promise myself, the Lord above, and whoever might be below us that I will give it another shot, sometime soon.
Keep us breathing fire!
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