Demons Dance Alone is a 2002 concept album

Concept album

In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical." Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing...

 by The Residents

The Residents

The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....

 about the emotional effects of the September 11, 2001 attacks

September 11, 2001 attacks

The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...

. The album is split into three main parts, "Loss", "Denial", and "The Three Metaphors", bookended by "Tongue" and "Demons Dance Alone", and broken up by various untitled transitional instrumentals.

The CD booklet contains the section "The Residents Have Left The Building", which at first might be taken to indicate that none of the original members are still in the band. It does state that "a few" of those involved are "the flesh and blood residue of our mythical heroes, maintaining appearances for mostly sentimental reasons. But can any of these shadowy sidemen truthfully call themselves THE RESIDENTS? No more than you or I, but if no one claims to be a RESIDENT, doesn't that mean everyone is a potential RESIDENT?"

Loss

2. "Life Would Be Wonderful" – 3:50
   • Occasionally listed as "Mr. Wonderful"
3. "The Weatherman" – 3:06
4. "Ghost Child" – 2:56
5. "Caring" – 3:50
6. "Honey Bear" – 4:14
7. "The Car Thief" – 3:59
8. "Neediness" – 4:08
9. – 0:25¤
10. – 0:44¤
11. – 0:06¤

Denial

12. "Thundering Skies" – 2:54
13. "Mickey Macaroni" – 2:44
14. "Betty's Body" – 3:31
15. "My Brother Paul" – 3:07
16. – 0:17¤
17. "Baja" – 2:29
18. – 0:27¤
19. – 0:32¤
20. – 0:04¤

Three Metaphors

21. "Beekeeper's Daughter" – 2:53
22. – 0:08¤
23. "Wolverines" – 2:58
24. – 0:04¤
25. "Make Me Moo" – 2:41
26. – 0:35¤
27. – 1:03¤
28. "Demons Dance Alone" – 3:43

¤Not listed.

Limited Edition Bonus CD

1. "Sleepwalker" - 2:55
2. "Hidden Hand (Instrumental)" - 1:44
3. "Black Cats" - 1:18

Early Scratch Recordings From Demons Dance Alone

4. "Weatherman" - 2:02
5. "Make Me Moo" - 2:15
6. "The Car Thief" - 1:32
7. "The Brother Paul" - 1:25
8. "Caring" - 1:11
9. "Honey Bear" - 1:39
10. "Wolverines" - 1:33
11. "Mickey Macaroni" - 2:03
12. "Demons Dance Alone" - 1:08
13. "Happy Thanksgiving" - 2:22
14. "Hidden Hand (Vocal)" - 2:23
15. "Vampire" - 3:07
16. "Tortured" - 3:12

Vocals

The album consisted of some unique vocals from other Residents albums. Credited guest artist Molly Harvey plays an expanded role in this album, although she has played a big role in albums at the time. She leads entirely on "The Weatherman", "Caring", "the Car Thief", and "The Beekeeper's Daughter", as well as a partial lead on "Life Would Be Wonderful". She also headlined on four other songs on their previous album, "Wormwood". She is also known for singing in a 'creepy little girl' voice on "Ghost Child", "Mickey Macaroni", "Make Me Moo", and previous Residents works ("Twinkle 2000", etc...). Though previously thought to be an actual child singing the vocals, Molly Harvey does sing that way in live performances.

Most of the songs are led or partially led by The Residents' main singer, a man with a low, "hard whisper" singing voice.