Mr. Twin Sister – S/T Album

https://mrtwinsister.bandcamp.com/album/mr-twin-sister

Twin Group Records

Released September 2014

How much more chill could this album be? The answer is: none. Forget Jeff Bridges, these guys will make you really relax! Hailing from Long Island, NY, the band could be called chillwave, synth, or maybe even easy listening (just kidding, this stuff is way too complex for the elevator). I haven’t been able to stop listening to these guys since I picked up their record a few weeks ago. Though this album is self-titled, this is not their first album. They debuted back in 2010 with the excellent All Around and Away We Go. I lost track of them after that, but luckily I’ve rediscovered them. The shimmering, spacy, ethereal synths send you into a trance-like state. Vocalist Andrea Estella has a way of enunciation that is just bizarre enough to be intriguing. You never get board of hearing her sing. I’d compare her favorably to the Chromatics‘ Ruth Radelet. This is the kind of album you try to synch up with a movie ala Dark Side of the Moon. The only fault is side two of the record, which gets a little bland and repetitive.

The hip thing today seems to be giving your band a feminine name while having mostly guys in the band (the only female member of Mr. Twin Sister is Andrea). Other examples include Girls, Mrs. Magician, Cheap Girls, and Girl Talk, all of which have zero female members. I think this reflects the anti-macho aesthetic of Indie rock, going back to bands with names like Death Cab for Cutie. You know with a name like Girls you aren’t going to get some mouth-breathing Kiss cover band. I appreciate it, since I’d rather stay out of the bro-zone layer as much as possible.

8/10