TWIN SISTER – In Heaven (Pts 1-4)

Brandon and Natalie discuss Twin Sister’s debut LP, In Heaven, which just came out on Domino Records. It’s a confidently playful album that may or may not be sequenced in pairs, and one that covers a broad tableaux, from Blondie’s nu-wave, to loungey R&B, to spaghetti-western. Or is it James Bond? Can that be a genre? Later we debate the dueling vocal arrangement between Andrea Estella and guitarist Eric Cardona. All four parts after the jump.

Twin Sister – “Kimmi in a Rice Field”

Listen to a full album stream here!

From: Brandon Hall
To: Natalie Snoyman

Holy nu-wave, Batman!

Hey, Natalie! As usual, I discovered Twin Sister because of you. Specifically from your Best of 2009 mix you made on which you put “Nectarine” from the band’s first EP, Vampires With Dreaming Kids. I really didn’t think much of the song or the band at the time. It was a nice song, but nothing about which to get my panties in a twist. Then, last year, they released their second EP, Color Your Life, and my panties were officially twisted. I really enjoyed the quiet, lived in quality of the songs on that EP. The only real aberration from that sound was the disco jam “All Around and Away We Go” which reminded me of the delightful, euphoric stuff LA’s Music Go Music have been putting out for the past few years.

So consider me surprised when I grabbed In Heaven and found that “All Around and Away We Go” was more the rule than the exception. In fact, their debut is chock-full of surprises. Did you notice the sequencing, by any chance? Now, tell me if I’m imagining things. But to me it seems as though In Heaven‘s 10 songs are comprised of five pairs with unique styles. I can’t quite pick what genre I want to go with for the first pair, “Daniel” and “Stop,” but I’d be willing to make an argument for 90s twee R&B pop. “Stop” is a song I actually love, so remind to come back to that. Or you can talk about it, if you like! The next two songs, “Bad Street” and “Space Babe” are deliciously nu-wave dance tracks. “Bad Street” is Blondie redux (in the best way), though “Space Babe” actually makes me think of Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time.” “Kimmi in a Rice Field” and “Luna’s Theme” are pure 80s nu-wave synth ballads. But the first real curve balls of the album come in the next pair, “Spain” and “Gene Ciampi,” which play along on a spaghetti-western gallop that would make them fit right at home on the Kill Bill Soundtrack. At first, I thought these songs were a silly detour, but they’re executed so well, and sound like so much fun, especially “Gene Ciampi,” it’s kind of hard to be mad at them. The album finishes with probably two of its most accessible, or that is to say, familiar sounding, pop tracks in “Saturday Sunday” and “Eastern Green.”

So am I crazy? These are all paired up, right? For the most part, I tend to like one song over its pair, and I think the album’s strongest stretch comes from the trio that sees the funky “Bad Street” give way to the slick groove of “Space Babe” which leads into the album standout,  “Kimmi in a Rice Field,” by far my favorite track on the album. Though, since it sounds so much like the tracks on M83’s Saturdays=Youth, and, by proxy, what my nostalgia remembers of 80s synth music, I can’t tell if my love of “Kimmi in a Rice Field” speaks to the skill of Twin Sister’s arrangement or my deep seeded love of Saturdays=Youth, or maybe just that scene in Sixteen Candles when Sam Baker comes out of the church to see Jake Ryan waiting by his car. Either way, who cares. I love “Kimmi in a Rice Field.”

Quick side note: I just saw Twin Sister perform at the Mercury Lounge here in New York last Thursday. As you know, lead singer Andrea Estella, who just so happens to be beyond adorable, sings in a childlike squeak not unlike that of Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki. So while Twin Sister set up, what did the audience hear? Thirty minutes of Deerhoof. It was like calibrating the audience! After 30 minutes of Matsuzaki’s less than grammatically proficient chirping, Estella sounded perfectly normal! I thought it was brilliant. I loved it.

What do you think of Estella and guitarist, Eric Cardona, sharing vocal duties, by the way, the result of which being that a number of songs take on a duet-like structure? Does that work for you? I’m on the fence.

“Tell me a secret I won’t tell anyone,””
Brandon

Twin Sister – “Bad Street”

From: Natalie Snoyman
To: Brandon Hall

You know, I had to remind myself that the band who released In Heaven is the same band who released Vampires With Dreaming Kids. With the exception of “Ginger,” I would be tempted to say that these albums were released by two different bands. Okay, that may be a little extreme. But Twin Sister’s newest release feels like quite a departure from that first EP. This isn’t a bad thing. Not in the least! I love it when bands can change their sound somewhat dramatically yet remain so appealing at the same time.

And, as you aptly pointed out, Twin Sister not only manages to do this from one album to the next, but they’ve done it on one single release! Once you pointed out the “twin tracks” (Twin Sisters? Heyo!), it was impossible for me to not hear the rest of the album that way. I think you’re spot-on with the exception of the last two tracks. “Saturday Sunday” seems so lost on this album whereas “Eastern Green,” its so-called “twin track” feels right at home. In fact, “Saturday Sunday” reminds me a lot of Stereolab, a band that would surely make it onto a favorites list if I was prone to making them. I’ve listened to the album several times now — did you know In Heaven is the perfect record to listen to when packing sketches into Hollinger boxes? — and I still can’t get into this track.

Upon first listen, “Spain” and “Gene Ciampi” also baffled me but I’ve come to embrace them… mostly, anyway. While “Kimmi in a Rice Field” makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside (total Sixteen Candles moment), “Daniel” is the track that really does it for me on this album. The celestial and sweet instrumentation is the perfect accompaniment to Andrea Estella’s somewhat quirky voice and I can’t, for the life of me, get the chorus out of my head. Speaking of vocals, I’m not a huge fan of the tracks featuring both Eric and Andrea. Perhaps it’s because Estella’s voice is so unique that next to Cardona’s comparatively smooth vocals, the two together sometimes feel a little jarring. I think this is most apparent on “Stop.” I am, however, a pretty big fan of “Luna’s Theme” and I think their voices work so incredibly well together on this track. What about you? Have you hopped onto one side of the fence yet?

The more I play this album, the more I find myself repeating the first six tracks over and over. I feel the four subsequent tracks, while ambitious and mostly enjoyable, don’t play on the band’s strengths. I wonder if this is because the first six tracks sound more like other Twin Sister releases. Am I that narrow-minded?!

“Big hands. Big feet,”
Natalie

Twin Sister – “Gene Ciampi”

From: Brandon Hall
To: Natalie Snoyman

“Twin sisters!” Of course! The sequencing makes so much sense, now!

Honestly, though, I think my sequencing hypothesis doesn’t quite work. You mentioned the last two tracks, “Saturday Sunday” and “Eastern Green,” which I really can’t make a legitimate argument to link them, though I tried. I agree with you for the most part on “Saturday Sunday.” I like the song enough, but i don’t feel like it plays to the band’s strengths. It’s a little too candy coated for my tastes. Similarly, I’m stretching in trying to link “Daniel” and “Stop,” which really don’t sound all that alike.

As for the voices, I really wish it was Andrea Estella all the time. I don’t mind “Eastern Green,” but I wish Andrea were singing instead of Eric. And I really like “Stop” for all the wonderful things it does sonically with its electronic marimba, its disco groove, and the simple, sweet lyrics about being caught up in love and trying to consciously tell yourself to slow down and decide whether or not what you’re feeling is real and worth it: “I keep telling myself to stop / Am I already with you, oh what do we do now?” I love all that. But the two of them singing together turns it into a kind of duet and introduces a level of cheese that didn’t necessarily need to be there. I think “Luna’s Theme” is a different animal. Andrea is prominently in the fore with Eric adding accompanying vocals. Ultimately, I feel like Eric has a fine voice, but Andrea gives the band a unique and evocative identity, not unlike The Constantines whose awesome lead singer, Bryan Webb, shares vocal duties with the nasally, less interesting Steve Lambke. I always hated rocking out to Webb only to get the emo stuffy-nosed voice of Lambke on the next song. Band politics, obviously. Going forward, I hope to hear less of Eric Cardona. No offense, Eric.

For a relatively new band, for a debut album, In Heaven is incredibly promising. I’m not personally a big fan of the songs, “Spain” and “Gene Ciampi” but I actually think they’re indicative of what we should expect from Twin Sister in the future. Not the sound or style, necessarily, but the fact that this is a band that isn’t afraid to try new things, to go in different directions and do a little experimenting. I like, especially, the lyrics of “Spain:” “It’s hard to choose the life you want…and decide which life is right for us.” That may be a thesis statement for the album. It’s the work of a band still playing around with genres and sounds, still exploring and having fun. The joy of a new band is that they have yet to lock themselves into a box. I no more expect them to continue the spaghetti-western style than I do the nu-wave disco. I think they’re still searching for the sound that fits them best, and I, for one, can’t wait to find out what it is.

“If you like Gene Ciampi, you will love his movies!”
Brandon