by Jonathan Bannister (@j_utah)
Twin Tribes is based out of Brownsville, Texas which is located at the southern most point of Texas, next to the Mexico border and the gulf coast. Their music is in that dark wave/goth wheelhouse that’s home to others like Drab Majesty, She Past Away, Second Still, and others. It might surprise some that this type of music that feels associated with industrial city landscapes and late nights in urban sprawl would come out of a coastal border town, but then I think of growing up in Odessa, Texas. Five hours east of El Paso, a town built on oil and football. Late nights hanging out at Denny’s, smoking, wearing all black, skateboarding in the day, the Walkman alternating between Fugazi and Joy Division. Friends who formed a Church of Satan grotto, a New Year’s Eve spent watching a documentary on Anton LaVey, high school letterman jackets that had Teenagers From Mars written in huge letters on the back, the obsession with horror movies that has never gone away. It makes sense that this music could come out of Texas. It’s the sound of rebellion, finding your own way, going against the grain.
Ceremony is their second album and was released back in December while everyone was busy making lists. The album finds the band building upon their first album Shadows (speaking of lists, Shadows recently appeared on post-punk.com's Best of the Decade list). The stark black and white cover sets you up for exactly the kind of album you’re going to hear, along with the name of the album noting the debt paid to the past. The electronics feel full and loud, the drum machine driving the sound with the thick bass lines and bright guitar. The vocals are more up front than you might expect which is also interesting as this is an album that seems more personally orientated than their first album. It’s an album playing a lot when driving the streets of Austin. It goes well front to back, letting each song build upon the mood. My favorite songs on the album are the one, two punch of “Avalon” and “Obsidian”.
“Avalon” is a mid-tempo banger. It makes me want to be in the middle of the dance floor pulling taffy and all the other dance move cliches. It is Twin Tribes in single mode. The sequenced hi-hat going double time, the guitar line that never rests. “Obsidian” then acts as the contrast with its slow, methodical pace. The bass line doing all the work while the keys plink out those highlights and adds flourishes that really make it memorable. It’s a song often on repeat when lurching around work on breaks, wandering the halls.
Album closer “Shine” is another standout track. The guitar part is beautiful. It has a 4AD soar about it. This has always been one of the things I love most about this kind of music. For all the outward darkness, the bleak vibe of it all, it is music that aches with beauty. It’s obsessed with finding the transcendent in our mundane lives. Unafraid to emote and feel, to find truth instead of corniness in things like love. The way a synth part can hit at just the right time, to take the feeling over the edge where you find yourself moved with no discernible way to explain why.
Ceremony was a wonderful way to wrap up 2019 and definitely a vibe to bring into the new year. If you’re into this kind of music it definitely needs to be in your collection. That it’s only their second album speaks well to their trajectory. So put it on, turn it up, and feel.