Live Review: REVIEW: Twin Shadow ‘Confess’

George Lewis Jr. (former bedroom producer TWIN SHADOW, whose first album, Forget, cut through all the bullshit and established him as a musical artist for, like, realsies) is getting back on the bike, literally and metaphorically.

Eighteen months after Forget's release he comes offering Confess, an album spawned of motorbike crashes and the euphoria of early morning rides.

It's Eighties New Wave. Not the mock 80's New Wave that's been inescapable in the music industry over the past few years, but genuine 80's New Wave which is not uncommon, but certainly more difficult to find. At the same time, it's so much more than that. Yes, it tangles up all the most fabulous parts of Prince with Bowie and The Cure; it also takes the best of R&B over the last two decades, and polishes it off with a healthy dollop of M83.

It's nostalgic, but thanks to the thoughtful, planned-so-carefully-they-sound-off-the-cuff arrangements of tracks like "Golden Light" (the opener) and "Beg for the Night", it always sounds modern. As any artist will tell you, that's a hard line to toe.

There are two predominant reasons that this is successful as an album. The first: Lewis Jr.'s absolutely remarkable lyrics. Though they occasionally miss some of the bittersweet sting of Forget, they encapsulate the same blunt poetry. Take, for example, the simple lyrics of “I Don't Care”, which culminate in the line: "Before the night is through, I will say three words/I'll probably mean the first two, and regret the third".

The second is that this is an album -- and I'm loathe to use this word -- that swaggers through its track list rather than grinding from song to song. The whole album, like each song individual, starts out small and builds to a height of euphoria before dwindling out. No, it's not an album of big finishes and 'wow' moments, but it's consistently good and, often, better.

"Five Seconds" is an excellent first single, quietly hinting at what's to come, but by no means is it the standout track of this album. My recommendation? You just wait for what's to come...

Confess by Twin Shadow  is out now.

Words by Cheryl Billman

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