Evelyn Evelyn
"Ladies and gentlemen, critics and hipsters, have you heard the new disc by the Evelyn sisters? Seamlessly floating with grace between eras and genres, they sing timeless new songs, rife with double entendres. As featured in Rolling Stone, Spin, The New Yorker and Pitchfork... Piiiiiiiiiitchfork!"
"Isn't it nice that they're being so nice to us?"
"If I'm not mistaken, I think they might like us..."
Discovered in 2007 by Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley, Evelyn Evelyn (Eva and Lynn Neville) are a pair of Conjoined Twins from Walla Walla, Washington. They perform vaudeville songs with jazzy melodies, telling the story of their lives to their newfound audience: stories about their childhood being locked inside a chicken coop, their abduction into a pedophile ring, their years in slavery at a travelling circus with their two-headed elephant friends Elephant Elephant, and their eventual rise to fame.
The twins started out shyly performing encores for Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley concerts. When the audience really took to them, the sisters released their debut Concept Album in 2010 and subsequently toured the world, always accompanied by Amanda and Jason wherever they go.
They enjoy sushi and Twix.
The twins have a Twitter feed, a MySpace account and a Web site, where you can buy them a trip to the moon, if you like.
(Oh, and that debut album? It features Kim and Zoe Boekbinder, Margaret Cho, Corn Mo, Chantal Claret, Frances Cobain, Neil Gaiman, Ethan and Ari Gold, Eugene Mirman, Franz Nicolay, Reverend Peyton, Tegan and Sara Quin, Soko, Jimmy Urine, Kirsten Vangsness, Andrew W.K., Gerard Way and "Weird Al" Yankovic on guest vocals.)
- Audience Participation Song: "Elephant Elephant".
- The Barnum
"Behold, the eighth wonder of the natural world! Come one and come all, see the two-headed girl. Stupendous! Revolting! You’ll be shocked, you’ll be awed! A true freak of nature, a blunder of God! But possessing such talents, hear them sing, see them dance. As seen in the highest class parlors of France! Just ten bucks a photograph, get your seats while they last! We take Visa and MasterCard, debit or cash!"
- Played by Sxip Shirey in the show.
- Black Comedy Rape
- Cerebus Syndrome: Yes. Keep in mind "Elephant Elephant" was their first song.
- Chainsaw Good: The doctor attending their birth attempted to separate them with one.
- Circus of Fear
- Conjoined Twins
- Crapsack World
- Creepy Twins: They're not evil, but they're definitely eerie.
- Creepy Monotone: "The Tragic Events of September".
- Death by Childbirth: Louisa Neville, the twins' mother.
- Deus Angst Machina: The twins' backstory. Their mother dies in childbirth - fair enough, one would imagine the birth of conjoined twins could have complications. Then the doctor tries to separate the twins with a chainsaw. Then the sheriff arrives and shoots the doctor. Then the chainsaw hits their father and kills him. Then the sheriff decides to drive them to an orphanage, but his car is hit by a truck and he dies. Then they spend the first six years of their life being raised in a chicken coop... and it goes on like this.
- Disabled Means Helpless: Averted. The twins are completely self-taught musicians, eager to make it big, and were able to escape two of their four abusive home situations (the chicken coop and the circus) with no outside help. The reason they need Amanda and Jason (and Sxip) isn't because of their physical condition, but because their emotional trauma has left them with social anxiety and unable to communicate well with media and fans. Unfortunately, Internet Backdraft saw a lot of people Completely Missing the Point on this one.
- Everything Sounds Sexier in French: Very Squicky version with the French Canadian title character of "Sandy Fishnets".
- Fille Fatale: Sandy Fishnets.
- Filk Song: "My Space".
- Fun with Acronyms: Two groups come forward to impose their ideals on the twins during their tenure at the circus: F.A.S.T.E.N. (the Foundation for Always Separating Siamese Twins Everywhere Now) and S.P.L.I.T. (the Society for the Preservation of Linked Identical Twins).
- Improv: The "Ask Evelyn Evelyn" bit of the stage show. The sisters give their answers one word at a time, trying to form a full sentence by following up on each other's words... which mostly involves Amanda and Jason trying to think of words that the other could not possibly follow up on.
- Kayfabe: Amanda and Jason keep it up most of the time. Volcanoes can occasionally interfere.
- Literary Agent Hypothesis
- Madness Mantra: "CHICKEN MAN. CHICKEN MAN! CHICKEN MAN! CHICKEN MAN!" Leads to a Heroic BSOD for the Evelyn on drums during the stage show.
- Mood Whiplash: On the CD, the Tear Jerker "Sandy Fishnets" is followed immediately by the cheerful ditty "Elephant Elephant".
- Multiple Head Case: Normally the sisters get along fine, but the self-titled song "Evelyn Evelyn" explores this issue a bit.
- Murder Ballad: "Sandy Fishnets" and "You Only Want Me 'Cos You Want My Sister".
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Their names were originally Eva and Lyn, but nobody ever bothered to remember which was which.
- Orphanage of Fear
- The Power of Friendship: The twins decided to become musicians when their last slave driver taught them how to use the internet (in order to make him rich). Accidentally finding [[[My Space]], the girls realized that musicians can have "thousands of friends". They practiced their songs at night until they had built up the courage to contact Amanda and Jason via MySpace and ask her to listen to them. The rest is history.
- Precision F-Strike: Only one in the girls' entire oeuvre.
"Have you seen my sister Evelyn? FUCK, she's gone and wandered off again!"
"I know you like twins, have I got a surprise, they’re identical sisters attached at the side. Just imagine the fun you could have with these chicklets, and they’re so well-behaved, not a single complaint yet. Just look at these photographs, while I pour you a cocktail, I don’t know whether I should charge double or triple!"
- Retraux: "Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn?"
- Softer and Slower Cover: "Love Will Tear Us Apart".
- Stepford Smiler: "Smile for the camera, Evelyn ..."
- Twin Threesome Fantasy: Played for maximum Squick with their backstory, and dark humour in "You Only Want Me 'Cos You Want My Sister".