Twin Sister + Still Corners
Lexington, London
November 25, 2010
Latching hold of our ears earlier in the year with their double EP release Colour Your Life/Vampires With Dreaming Kids, Long Island’s Twin Sister had secured a place on our date card long before their they announced their first UK tour. Sneaking across the pond in October, we’d caught the band supporting rising stars, The Morning Benders at the Music Box in Los Angeles (apologies boys, I owe you one live review) and were suitably impressed. Jaded beyond jaded as the years drag on and the revolving floorshow of new bands yawn in our faces with old ideas, it was refreshing to witness a band breathe colour and life into their music.
Mention should be made to Still Corners who without fanfare or “Hi, We’re …..” introductions began their set with such un-support act confidence and cool, and with oh, such songs, that for a brief moment I was convinced I was in the wrong venue. Yes, it was that neo-psyche-folk-drone-pop, that despicable umbrella that is almost a curse for any band without the power to rise above it, but of no such problem for Still Corners. Select instrumental moments brought forth memories of Broadcast and Electrelane, while others a warm Slowdive-ing descent into a lush dreampop parade. Despite the plea of recent single “Don’t Fall In Love”, we couldn’t fake it, even just to spite you.
Whatever possessed vocalist Andrea Estrella to don a jade green wig for her band’s debut London performance made for an interesting entrance, looking as she did like the offspring of a leprechaun and Lady Gaga. Opening with the soft patter and sweeping melodies of “Milk and Honey”, it’s clear that Twin Sister make for the kind of music Dorothy would be listening on her Walkman while killing time on the yellow brick road. There’s just something indefinably magic about they do. The way the instruments gently pull “Lady Daydream” out of her slumber and in the unabashed beauty of “All Around And Away We Go”, which now it’s been released as a single can officially be called one of the best, if not the best singles of 2010.
The oddball cuteness and elongated vowels of “I Want A House” betray a certain Sugarcubes sweet Bjork-ness, validated by Estrella’s t-shirt attire for this evening, but only go to lend an air of the unexpected with what Twin Sister do. Called back for an encore, they bring out the party favours and show their Italian disco prowess via a fun note-for-note cover of La Bionda’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. Is it really time for a disco revival? Twin Sister make for a convincing argument, and in their hands, it seems anything is possible.
