Staff Reviews
Twin Shadow - Forget
It reeks of nostalgia but still, it manages to sound fresh enough to be forgiven.»
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rough trade exclusive with a bonus 7 track cd featuring twin shadow's remixes of surfer blood, lemonade, hooray for earth and bear in heaven, the gordon voidwell remix of 'i can't wait', hooray for earth vs twin shadow's 'place we like' and 'savannah howl'. debut full-length from brooklyn-based new-waver george lewis jr, released in america on terrible records - grizzly bear's chris taylor's label and 4ad in europe. with taylor at the controls, 'forget' sounds like a classic lost 80's heavy-hitter full of chorused guitars, an 808 drum machine, big synth stabs and lewis' distinct croon. it recalls the production and glamour of duran duran, the pop hits of pet shop boys and new order, and the heavy-hearted synthpop of early orchestral manoeuvres in the dark. 'forget' is an apt name for the record in that through-out there's a palpable sense of hedonism, a soundtrack to the sort of loss-tinged good times you have when escaping from reality. exquisitely produced, every arpeggiated synth squiggle and sequenced passage drips meaning, framing lewis jr.'s vocals perfectly. tracks like opener 'yellow balloon' use snappy drum programming, strings and double tracked vocals to such effect as to seduce you into a weird netherworld where ultravox soundtracked twin peaks. elsewhere 'tyrant destroyed' deals in a kind of chamber pop resplendent in reverb and synths whilst 'castles in the snow' shows what a primed imagination can do when combining the sounds of the past with modern, ersatz dubstep dynamics. it all hangs together beautifully, like a lost gem dug up in the nick of time. twin shadow wears his influences on his sleeve, but 'forget' matches the source material with stunning songwriting and hooks in all the right places.
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