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Review
In the last few years, 4AD have trounced all expectations with a run of excellent bands who defy easy categorisation, so they must have felt long over-due a signing who harks back to the early years of the label. George Lewis – AKA Twin Shadow – makes synth-led bedroom music that sounds at once thoroughly new wave and thoroughly fresh. True, there aren’t any glitches or abrasive programming to signify the intervening decades, and on first impression this is so slick it’s easy to ignore the layers of details; but those are what make it more than homage.
Opener Tyrant Destroyed sets the scene – it’s a loving reconstruction of 80s synth-pop, by a solo artist alone in his room; the music low in the mix, as he lays down a sleepy sounding vocal. By way of contrast, When We’re Dancing is the most stylised, almost camp, piece of electro-chamber-pop, harking back to The Associates or Ultravox. The third brings these elements together, for the album’s most exuberant, danceable moment, I Can’t Wait – borne on a melodic bassline that would have The Cure or The Police wondering if they mislaid it, ripples of Moroder-style synths, and a soaring vocal that shows Lewis isn’t afraid to sing like he’s been trained.
It’s a mark of the album’s strength that there aren’t many standouts: there aren’t any weak tracks either. Towards the end, Castles in the Snow verges on comedy goth, with its deliberately cheap-sounding organ. But its processed, desolate moans and the cute-but-twisted sentiments – "you’re my favourite nightmare" – somehow add up to it being one of the best things here. Otherwise, it’s an album to let your senses play over: discovering the weirdly quacking keys and chinking guitars beneath the prominent synth-string vamps on (say) Shooting Holes at the Moon that make it seem so 80s, or the fluting ‘naïve melody’ of Slow that recalls Talking Heads. All in all, a magnificently accomplished debut.
--Alex Tudor
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CD Description
On Forget Twin Shadow offers a panoramic view of a musical landscape that spans decades, veering from the full-throttle power ballad "Slow" to the shimmering Niles Rodgers-tinged disco of "At My Heels" and the new wave synthesized breaks of "Castles In the Snow". Named Best New Music by Pitchfork and given the seal of approval from The Fly, The Independent and NME, it offers the perfect insight into the world of Twin Shadow.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Make no mistake, 4AD has a new crop of talent in 2010, and, along with Ariel Pink and his recent makeover, Dominican-born George Lewis Jr, aka Twin Shadow, is at the forefront of this group. Migrating from Florida to Brooklyn, gaining spit and polish production from Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor on its way, Forget is a collection of bedroom (read apartment) recordings, which range from mournful disco to soulful new-wave.
Finding solace in the deadpan simplicity of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Lewis Jr's synths are sleek and sleazy, his delivery wistful, the end product quite remarkable. Deftly avoiding gimmicks, Forget rarely puts a foot wrong. The opener, "Tyrant Destroyed" pops with languid appeal drawing back the curtain on the nostalgic retro-futurism of planet Twin Shadow.
Pleasingly, Lewis Jr's lyrics are more than passengers, and on "I Can't Wait" his breathy "I don't wanna believe, or be, in love" sounds like he truly means it. The assured swishes and funky bass guitar on "Shooting Holes" head the track straight for the Italo-dancefloor, yet Lewis Jr has darker locales in mind as he spoils the party atmosphere with a vocal exercise in disinterest similar to David Byrne's turn in X-Press 2's "Lazy". Whereas "At My Heels", though a smidgen less theatrical, recalls Wild Beasts if they were invited to DJ the same David Byrne's own birthday bash.
Latterly, the hi-hats and handclaps of "Castles In The Snow" are a real highlight, and the title track's ominous bass crunches even veer Forget towards The Knife's version of "Heartbeats", if it were filtered through a decade of neglect and given a quick bleaching.
Though probably product of nostalgia, Forget is a strange name for an a debut of such confidence and substance - for it's the last thing we'd do on this kind of form.
Advised downloads: "Castles In The Snow" and Tyrant Destroyed".
Finding solace in the deadpan simplicity of Casiotone For The Painfully Alone, Lewis Jr's synths are sleek and sleazy, his delivery wistful, the end product quite remarkable. Deftly avoiding gimmicks, Forget rarely puts a foot wrong. The opener, "Tyrant Destroyed" pops with languid appeal drawing back the curtain on the nostalgic retro-futurism of planet Twin Shadow.
Pleasingly, Lewis Jr's lyrics are more than passengers, and on "I Can't Wait" his breathy "I don't wanna believe, or be, in love" sounds like he truly means it. The assured swishes and funky bass guitar on "Shooting Holes" head the track straight for the Italo-dancefloor, yet Lewis Jr has darker locales in mind as he spoils the party atmosphere with a vocal exercise in disinterest similar to David Byrne's turn in X-Press 2's "Lazy". Whereas "At My Heels", though a smidgen less theatrical, recalls Wild Beasts if they were invited to DJ the same David Byrne's own birthday bash.
Latterly, the hi-hats and handclaps of "Castles In The Snow" are a real highlight, and the title track's ominous bass crunches even veer Forget towards The Knife's version of "Heartbeats", if it were filtered through a decade of neglect and given a quick bleaching.
Though probably product of nostalgia, Forget is a strange name for an a debut of such confidence and substance - for it's the last thing we'd do on this kind of form.
Advised downloads: "Castles In The Snow" and Tyrant Destroyed".
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
George Lewis Jnr is obviously an 'interesting' character if we were to believe all of the information paraded on various websites but apart from knowing of his Surfer Blood (supporting Interpol)link, I had relied on these very websites for glimpses of his music.
A touch of soul, a touch of Morrissey, a touch of Beach Boys - definitely a hard act to tie down to a specific genre but this really is a little gem and a surprise gem at that - NME gave it what I consider to be a well judged review this week.
If you want to go back a bit into the 80s (in a nice way) I would recommend this highly.
Give it a whirl as I am fairly confident you will not be disappointed!
A touch of soul, a touch of Morrissey, a touch of Beach Boys - definitely a hard act to tie down to a specific genre but this really is a little gem and a surprise gem at that - NME gave it what I consider to be a well judged review this week.
If you want to go back a bit into the 80s (in a nice way) I would recommend this highly.
Give it a whirl as I am fairly confident you will not be disappointed!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Twin Shadow - Forget (4AD)
Is there a better pedigree in independent music than 4AD's? Just a thought.
Anyhow, back to the matter at hand. Twin Shadow is George Lewis, a bedroom recording artist with a penchant for shiny 80s synthpop. It's never quite as simple as that, especially when the facilities don't match the ambition, but that's what makes it so interesting and enjoyable. We really don't need another Duran Duran.
Instead, let's draw comparisons with another 4AD album, namely Matt Johnson's 1981 masterpiece "Burning Blue Soul". They share the same undeniable ambition for perfect pop songs, tempered with no-frills production and a proclivity for pushing the envelope. They just can't help themselves, and in Lewis' case in manifests itself in tracks like "Castles In The Snow" with its Gothic bluster, and knowing lyrics, or the wonky electronica of "Tether Beat".
Remarkably, when he gets it absolutely right, it's just as agreeable. "When We're Dancing" would have sounded perfectly at home on The Associates' "Sulk" record and "I Can't Wait" is the sort of Giorgio Moroder inspired Euro-disco that a host of `80s dark-wave acts secretly took to heart - and very good it is, too! 9/10.
Is there a better pedigree in independent music than 4AD's? Just a thought.
Anyhow, back to the matter at hand. Twin Shadow is George Lewis, a bedroom recording artist with a penchant for shiny 80s synthpop. It's never quite as simple as that, especially when the facilities don't match the ambition, but that's what makes it so interesting and enjoyable. We really don't need another Duran Duran.
Instead, let's draw comparisons with another 4AD album, namely Matt Johnson's 1981 masterpiece "Burning Blue Soul". They share the same undeniable ambition for perfect pop songs, tempered with no-frills production and a proclivity for pushing the envelope. They just can't help themselves, and in Lewis' case in manifests itself in tracks like "Castles In The Snow" with its Gothic bluster, and knowing lyrics, or the wonky electronica of "Tether Beat".
Remarkably, when he gets it absolutely right, it's just as agreeable. "When We're Dancing" would have sounded perfectly at home on The Associates' "Sulk" record and "I Can't Wait" is the sort of Giorgio Moroder inspired Euro-disco that a host of `80s dark-wave acts secretly took to heart - and very good it is, too! 9/10.
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