Twin Sister Releases Double EP, Makes Author Cry For Joy

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It’s a rare thing to get to glimpse into the evolution of a new artist. Twin Sister’s recent release on Double Six Records, which pairs the band’s very first EP, Vampires With Dreaming Kids, with its newest effort, Color Your Life, offers a glimpse into how their sound has changed, while offering up some of the most inventive tunes this side of anywhere. Vampires With Dreaming Kids has never before been released off-line, so if you’re not familiar with the dreamy rock of these psychedelic geniuses, this is the time to get acquainted.

Twin Sister, like its chillwave contemporaries, specializes in mid-tempo tracks enveloped in rich, warm blankets of sound. However, unlike most of these artists, Twin Sister’s warmth is carefully orchestrated, with sudden changes of texture and wonderfully strange harmonic progressions. The songs on this release can change course without warning, morphing a disco dance track to radio noise (“All Around and Away We Go”), or Brian Eno ambience to electro-rock (“Galaxy Plateau”). Instead of relying on loops to do the job for them, it sounds like they spend time sculpting each second of every track.

In other words, Twin Sister sounds genuine. Synths and samplers are on equal footing with acoustic guitars, backing vocals, and guest appearances from harmonicas, flutes, and vibraphones. These instruments are carefully layered, with space for Andrea Estella’s beautifully airy vocals always in mind. Twin Sister’s acoustic resourcefulness reminds me of indie rockstars Dirty Projectors, although Twin Sister tends towards laid-back –  rather than hyper-eccentric – grooves.

Vampires With Dreaming Kids reveals that, even from the beginning, Twin Sister was unafraid to experiment. A kaleidoscope of subtle acoustic and electronic sounds intensifies Estella’s scraggly vocals as she sings about her desire for love and for a place to call home. This EP is vibrant and comforting. It’s like a memory of an old backyard swing set, or of a childhood bedroom lit brightly in the afternoon.

The highlight of Vampires With Dreaming Kids is “Ginger,” a shoegazy ode to redheads and their fiery blood. Much of its success comes from the wide birth it gives to Estella’s melodies, and to the laid-back, cavernous groove. Glassy, distant guitars and sparkling synths are warm and inviting, but stay in the background. Like most of Twin Sister’s songs, “Ginger” ends with a surprise: everything drops out except a low, rumbling blip, which spins itself out like a propeller.

Although Twin Sister is at its best when it layers acoustic instruments, the band doesn’t completely shun indie rock’s love affair with 80’s synth-pop . In fact, the changeover from Vampires With Dreaming Kids to Color Your Life reveals that Twin Sister is heading towards more streamlined tracks, more synths, and pushing their experimentation to the margins of each track. “All Around and Away We Go” is solidly electro the whole way through, while “Milk & Honey” mines a rich vein of vaguely tribal dance rock.

The exception is “Galaxy Plateau,” which has got to be the strangest track on either EP. It’s six-minutes of ambient noise stuck before the very last song of Color Your Life. While ambient/rock crossover is nothing new, there is no context in which to put this sudden outburst. I’m still not sure what to make of it, although it definitely makes the last track, “Phenomenons,” extra fresh in comparison.

Both EPs are available for free online on Twin Sister’s website, but I would take this opportunity to get the real, physical deal. Twin Sister currently on tour, and on Thursday the 18th (along with Oberhofer and The Morning Benders) will rock Webster Hall in NYC.

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