This boy/girl psycho pop sideshow (or "Brechtian punk cabaret," as they call it) is in equal measures truly transcendent and an inexorable irritant. Boston duo The Dresden Dolls – Amanda Palmer on piano and vocals, and drummer Brian Viglione – are, I’m tempted to say, Hedwig and The Angry Inch meets The White Stripes, but that’s giving The White Stripes waaay too much credit. Instead think Nico, Nina Simone and possibly even PJ Harvey matched with the rhythmic insistence of just piano and drums. In fact, she’s more of a pounder than he is, which can lead to some almost unpleasurably intense moments when she’s leaning on the keys and belting at the same time. But then you get the broad-spectrum dynamics of songs like Half Jack, and the singular gorgeousness of what these two are capable of is nakedly apparent.