ANDREA Estella’s Long Island based, Twin Sister, have been branded as performing hypnotic pop with a shot of added weirdness after announcing the upcoming release of their debut double EP. But are this fresh five piece really that crackers?
Well this release is a collection of the band’s first two EPs and although made less than two years apart they show a definite evolution from finding their feet to creating a more rounded CD. The earlier 'Vampires with Dreaming Kids' is an unsure and at times wayward collection of tracks, beginning with the awkward mish mash ‘Dry Hump’. Combining Estella’s ultra soft voice and guitar chords that resemble whale song along with a hard on the ears, crackling guitar, this track creates an utterly awkward intro to the EP.
You cant help but think that the thinkers behind the, at times beautiful, Twin Sister sound are as eccentric as their critics suggest however. Take the second track on 'Vampires With Dreaming Kids', ‘Ginger’, which is half way between an attack on ginger kids and a reminiscent journey through New York. A slow, strained drum beat and blaring Stone Roses-style electric guitar add to the odd sounding lyrics as Estella sings “Ginger kids are nothing but violent”.
The latter half of the double EP, 'Color Your Life', is a much more refined and accessible collection of songs but the band are by no means past their eccentric best. Sandwiched between two classy tracks is the instrumental waste of time that is ‘Galaxy Plateau’. An unforgiving six minutes of wind, the odd chime and a bored sounding organist, this track is nothing more than a filler. In fact its only purpose appears to be that its last 25 seconds form part of the next song’s intro.
But the band may well lie on the border between madness and genius as songs like ‘All Around and Away We Go’ suggest. Backed by an electro beat that would fit perfectly in an episode of Knight Rider, sweet harmonies and a retro echoed guitar solo part way through, this is Twin Sister at their best. Some cute lyrics round off this quality alternative pop track, with Estella singing, “Sharing white bread, under purple-blue blossoms, I’m smiling for two.”
Despite offering a more rounded sound ‘Color Your Life’ is far from conventional with melodies such as in ‘Lady Daydream’ that echo of The Police and then fluffy pop tracks like ‘Phenomenon’ that are more cutesy than puppies at Christmas. But somehow both tracks just work.
On the whole it’s clear to see that Twin Sister have bags of talent but there is still work to do in terms of creating a definitive sound that can reach the heights of tracks like ‘All Around and Away We Go’ although there are glimpses of oddball genius throughout both CDs.
5/10
Also published on www.virgin.com
http://www.virgin.com/music/reviews/twin-sister-vampires-with-dreaming-kids-and-color-your-life/
