Twin Tigers seems to be Athens’ answer to the brooding West Coast gothic shoegaze-pop of Zola Jesus and The Soft Moon. With an air of arching melodies soaring through a blackened sky, the quartet returns with Death Wish, Twin Tigers’ second LP, which continues the dark terrain presented on the band’s Curious Faces Violet Future EP and 2010’s fantastic full-length Gray Waves.
With opener “Racecar,” the album wastes no time diving into punchy post-punk and noisy riffs. Matthew Rain’s vocals ring with sullen angst like Robert Smith in the darkest course of The Cure’s Trilogy phase. Echo-laden howls mesh with fluid bass and scratchy guitars, forming a wall of sound perfect for dancing. The track soon dissolves into “Wildest Dreams,” one of the prettier songs here. It resembles Interpol’s game-changing Turn on the Bright Lights: icy piano keys rain down chiming sheet notes as a swirling line of reverberating guitar flows along at a steady pace.
“Sources” is a dirty anthem in the vein of The War on Drugs’ raucous psych-rompers, featuring a quick and steady beat and a howling feedback melody. The brief semi-chorus resembles The Arcade Fire without the grandeur or theatrics. The band unfurls a spacious atmosphere with “Opana,” a mid-tempo tune that marries Depeche Mode’s gothic stadium pop-rock with chugging blackout fuzz. The LP shows that Twin Tigers shows no sign of slowing, a unique band in a sea of ho-hum soundalikes. 4 out of 5.
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