Sunset Sunrise

Sunset/Sunrise, the second full length from Seattle duo the Dutchess & the Duke, is a slump-dodging opus that takes the dark, raw beauty of the band's debut and scales it up to distinctly luminescent heights, thanks to a graceful synthesis of painfully earned creative maturity and thoughtful production under producer Greg Ashley's adroitly tuned ears.Though minor chords and romantically morose lyrical yarns about misplaced affections and spiritual inertia remain touchstones, there is a freshing undercurrent of optimism throughout.