No Filler Music Podcast - Ep 40: Mr Twin Sister

Episode Date: July 30, 2019

​We make the case in this episode that Mr. Twin Sister is one of the most talented acts to come out of the last decade, with a look at their 2014 self-titled 3rd album. Having gone through some rough patches as a band in the previous year (parting ways with Domino Records, lead vocalist Andrea Estella's MS diagnosis, and the entire group surviving a harrowing car crash while touring in Florida), Mr. Twin Sister emerges on the other end with a renewed energy and a fresh sound to go along with their slightly altered name (they used to go by simply Twin Sister, and were one of the many dream pop buzz bands of 2010). Effortlessly and expertly blending jazz, disco, and house electronic with a distinctly 70s and 80s vibe, this record is a true hidden gem for music lovers who want to hear something unique and refreshing.​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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92%? Because of a bike? Not just bikes. We also make treadmills and roars. Oh, let me guess for elite athletes only, right? Nope. It doesn't matter if you're an avid exerciser or new to work in. out. Peloton can help you achieve your fitness goals. 92% stick with it. So can you. Try Peloton bikes, tread or row risk-free with a 30-day home trial. New members only. Not available in remote locations. See additional terms at onepellaton.com slash home-dash trial. We're trying really hard to just to just really like connect with what makes us feel good

musically and whatever that will be. You know, the range of music that we love a lot is so wide. So we definitely don't feel any pressure to continue with a certain sound. I would say a lot of the new stuff that we're working on is very different. Andrew, we're listening to No Filler, the music podcast dedicated to sharing the often overlooked hidden gyms that fill the space between the singles on our favorite records. My name is Travis.

Got my twin brother. Quentin here today. I see what you did there. You see what I did? The reason I emphasize the word twin more so than I usually do when I say that is that we're talking about a band called Mr. Twin Sister today. And I could not be more fucking pumped, dude. Yeah, they're pretty, there's something special, man. Yeah.

Yeah. When I look back on the last decade of music, these guys, or at the top of my list as far as one of my favorite acts of the last decade. I mean, no doubt. Because like you said, they're so unique and they have such a wide range in their sound. You know, when I think about these guys and like, you know, I've seen them twice now, which is, which is, it's interesting because I've seen them in both the beginning of their career and up to this point, as in this year, I saw them a couple months ago.

So I've really seen, I mean, every, I miss the middle stage, I guess, but I've seen the beginning and end, you know, and like, I think what it comes down to is just pure, like, talent, you know what I mean? Like a musical talent. I always think. Musicianship. Yeah, musicianship, the songwriting, the way that they structure their songs and, you know, like these guys are the real deal.

Like, I've been saying that for years. Yeah. So have you kept up with him all this time? Even, how many, how many full links do they have? They only have three full-length albums. They formed in 2008. They got basically they, the album that you and I were introduced to, I guess, would be their, their EP, their first EP. It was called Color Your Life and came out in 2010.

I love that record. Yeah, and that was bad. I mean, when you hear it. hear it, it sounds like it came out of 2010, right? I mean, it was just along the same vein as all those other kind of dream pop bands that were around at that time, right? Yeah. And her voice, her voice has definitely changed over the years, but when you listen to the

stuff they were doing back then and the next album after that, their actual first debut full-length album, which was called In Heaven, came out the next year. It just sounds, her voice is very breathy and like, almost a whisper at times, you know. It's very unique. Like I'm thinking of all around and away we go. Yeah, that was a song that was... That was a song that was playing there in the intro.

Oh, I didn't even notice that. I just remember the chorus part. So are you going to get into their name change? Yes, yes. I'll get into that later. So they originally went by just twin sister. And I had my own theories as to why they changed their name to Mr. Twin Sister. Turns out I was way off.

But we'll get into the actual reasoning behind that. But I figured, since we're talking about their early sound, and you heard a little bit of that in the intro, I mean, it's kind of hard to hear it because it was over or behind the interview question. By the way, that was Eric Cardona, the guitar player. He also plays saxophone quite a bit on some of their records. He sings on some of their records. He was talking about their influences, basically,

and how they're in love with so many different sounds and they bring all of those sounds into all the records. They're not trying to be any one type of sound and you'll definitely hear that with just the three songs that we're going to play from the album that we're talking about, but also when you hear where they came from. So we'll start by playing a song from another song

from Color Your Life, which came out in 2010, And then we'll talk about kind of what happened between that release and the one that we're going to talk about today, which is their self-titled album by Mr. Twin Sister, as in they changed their name, came out with another album that was self-titled. So anyway, Q, do you remember when we saw these guys back in 2010? Very well, yes. It was an amazing show. I think they blew the headliners out of the water. That's the one thing I certainly remember is that like, I mean, it wasn't even,

their performance, like, I still remember to this day, right? Just how blown away I was, because they were just so, it was so refresh, like, it was, it was refreshing, you know what I mean? Yeah. You know, we should, we should show up, throw up some pictures from that show, because Sarah brought her dad's a really nice camera. We got some great shots from that show for the blog. Did we take pictures of twin sister?

Oh, yeah. Oh, cool. Great shots, man. Dude, that was back when we got to go to concerts for free for our music. Yeah, that was one of the few shows that we actually were able to pull that off where we were like, hey, we're from the press, you know, like, which was total bullshit. But it worked. I mean. Hey, we're from the internets.

Yeah, we're from this publication called the internet. Not a big deal. But they opened for, it was an interesting show. It was Colts. You remember the band? It was Colts and then Twin Sister and then Morning Benders.

Morning Benders was the headliner. The funny thing about Colts, dude, I feel like out of those three bands, they had a mega hit with that song. I'm looking at it right now. It was called Go Outside. It was on some commercials and shit. Yeah.

Yeah. That's exactly. it. So that's kind of the funny. I feel like they were the opening, opening act. Yes, they were. But that record, or at least that song, probably has more plays than any of the Mr. twin sister stuff.

Dude, and you remember, uh, fucking Josh Blaylock was there just randomly from, uh, Burp FM. Burp FM, yeah. I wonder if that's still a thing, dude. Oh, dude, I know it is. I follow him on, on, on Facebook. Blaylock's indie rock. Playlist. Very, very, I don't want to say successful.

I don't know if he's successful or not. I'm sorry, he is successful. I guess I just didn't want to make it seem like, oh, he's become this big wig dude. But what I'm saying is like, like, it has continued to evolve. Like, and he's continued to do more projects and stuff. It's really cool. He does these little. Doesn't he have, didn't he start like a postcard vinyl?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And he has his own record label, I think, too. But anyway. Yeah, dude, he did everything right. Yeah. That was what was supposed to happen with no filler.

We never did. No fillet. You're talking about a newdust. Both. Why not? So, A, I'm really hoping that we play Lady Daydream.

Well, I'm pretty sure we've played that on this record. Oh. On this podcast, I'm sorry. Yeah, you're right. You're right,

that's another thing. I feel like I'm all over the map here. Yeah, we are. So we've played twin sister on podcast before. I played at least one of their tracks as a, I think you actually played something off of this first record for us. It was on, it was for our Taiko episode. Yeah, for what you heard. I played Echo Arms on our end of year like review episode for last year, which was a single

that came out sort of in conjunction with their new, new record. It was a separate, like it wasn't on the record or anything like that. But anyway, so if you've listened to this podcast over the last couple of years, you've heard twin sister, now we're finally going to give them the proper attention that they deserve. So let's talk about real quick. Let's just go through the roster and then we'll play some music. So wait, are we going to play a song from Color Your Life? That's what I just said, man.

We're going to go through the roster and then we're going to play some music. All right. So, Andrea Estella is the vocals. We kind of talked about her. She's the main vocals. Eric Cardona, guitars, sax, vocals. From what I saw at the concert, he also does some, some synth and keys and stuff like that, programming, whatnot. Gabe D'Amico, bass player.

Brian O'Hueta? O'Hueta. drummer and then I can't pronounce it but he goes by Dev his last name is Gupta Dev Gupta

He does like Yeah He does like keys and synth So anyway, that's the band What more do you need to know So here we go Let's play another track off of their Their EP

Color Your Life came out in 2010 We're going to play a song called the other side of your face. And this is going to be kind of a lengthy clip, but intentional. I want you to hear and kind of appreciate how these guys sort of build a mood and, like, sort of set a foundation for a song. They're really good at doing this. They always have these nice, long intros where they kind of sort of lead you into the song.

And this is one of those songs. And it was the first track on this. this album. So it's kind of like, in a way, it's sort of like, hey, this is who we are, like, this is what we do, you know. Not that this was their first record, because it wasn't, but for a lot of people, this is probably the first song that they heard of theirs. So, all right, here we go. The song is called The Other Side of Your Face. It's a really great buildup like you were saying. Yeah, right. I mean, it just, it perfectly sort of sets the moon, you know. Yeah. So the instrumentals, like the music aspect of it, before you hear her,

seeing. To me it's got like a kind of like a like the 80s new wave kind of kind of like tears for fears kind of sound. I can I can maybe see that a little bit yeah. Yeah. I mean I think I think better than any group in the last decade like what they do really well is blend sounds from different decades. Not so much that they I mean obviously they blend genres and stuff, you know, it's a fusion of a lot of different things, but mainly it's a sound that you kind of link to the 80s and 70s, you know? Right. There's a lot of disco in their music.

There's a lot of jazz in their music, too, almost to the point of like, you're going to hear in the first track that we play off their self-titled Mr. Twin Sister album. There's some, almost some shoday kind of, that kind of R&B jazz kind of sound. and then you'll hear I mean just about everything in between and aside from one song which we're going to play from this album that we're talking about tonight

they really never go back to that that sound that they were doing back in 2010 that dream pop sound they went back to it on their next record in 2011 that came out so let's talk about that for a little bit so basically they're sort of signed with Domino Records at this point or shortly afterward.

Domino is a pretty well-known indie record label, right? And so this kind of allowed them, as they put it, to focus 100% on the music because they were able to quit their jobs and stuff because they got this advance from their record label to make the record. but they found that they you know with a record label comes like hey you've got this sort of agreed upon date that it's going to come out right and so they felt like it was rushed and they weren't ultimately that happy with the 2011 release in heaven and listening back on it now like it does sound it doesn't sound like it's at the like the par that they that they deliver with everything else that they've done, you know? Yeah, so they weren't able to have the pace that they wanted to really hash out their ideas.

No, and it sounds like... Such a familiar story, you know, with so many bands. And it sounds like Domino was expecting them to be this certain type of band. Yeah. And they turned out not to be that band. Like they didn't deliver what Domino was expecting. And that's not by any means like a bash on twin sister. it's a compliment to them, right?

Sure, sure. Because as the guy was saying in that interview, and that was Eric, by the way, that I played in the beginning, like they're all over the place with their sound because they have so many different influences and they were sort of tired of hearing, actually have a quote here.

This is from the drummer. He says, I'm not exactly sure what he was referring to you, but I'm going to say it. He says, we're not a hot shelf item. We almost did the opposite. of what we knew they wanted from us being Domino. We were sick of hearing dreamy reverb, chill wave,

and we were like, we want to be upbeat and bright and have no reverb. We were reacting. So in other words, it almost sounds like, I don't know if it was like they were like snubbing the label like, yeah, we don't want to do, we want to do the exact opposite of what you're telling us to do just to be difficult, you know? But it sounds like they are so. Like I was saying, like these guys are

They're true musicians, you know, in every sense of the word, like they don't want to be boxed in with anything. Yeah, they're true artists. Yeah. When you listen to Mr. Twin Sister, they're self-titled, and when you listen to the one that they came out last year called Salt, literally every track is different. You know what I mean?

Yeah. They'll go anywhere that they're inspired to go, you know? and in a way, there is no lead member of this band. Each one of them contributes musically. They each write and contribute song structures, lyrics. So let's talk about the name change a little bit here, okay? So they come out with In Heaven in 2011. It didn't get much success from their record labels perspective,

although it was critically acclaimed. Like they got a lot of praise for this record. It just didn't make as much. money as Domino was hoping and like banking on it to make, you know? Yeah. So they part ways with Domino. And so basically a lot of shit goes down in 2013. 2013 was sort of this rough year for them.

They part ways with Domino. Andrea Estella, the lead singer, is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Oh, shit. And then while they're touring and, Florida, the entire band is involved in a car crash in the band. So they're going from a show to somewhere else, probably the next show in Tallahassee. They were driving to Gulf Shores, Alabama, to go to a music festival, which it's very likely I was in the same area at that time, because, you know, we go to Gulf Shores quite a bit. Oh, yeah. And we always line up with this

music festival that happens like down the road from from the uh from the hotel that we stay in yeah damn so anyway that's beside the point so anyway they get in this car crash it was actually pretty a pretty bad car wreck according to um cardona um had it not been for this partition that they put up to separate themselves from the um from the equipment yeah likely one of them would have died fuck did so like was everyone okay everyone was everyone okay everyone was everyone okay to something I mean they were injured the bass player the base player Gabe broke his both of his legs and one of his wrists wow and you're a bass player and you break your wrist you know oh man so anyway this sort of forces them to push the release state of this record

which ended up being a good thing because it allowed them to focus more on it and like perfect it even even more so than you know they typically would and they've even claimed that like, hey, you know, we're sort of perfectionists when it comes to our music. So this only, like, you know, encouraged more of that in a way, you know. Yeah. But anyway, so all of this happens in 2013. I'm not exactly sure when they changed their name, but it was some time between in heaven and this release date. And my thought, my fully acknowledging that it was just an assumption, like my best guess kind of thing.

was that this car wreck happens, right? And like it almost kills them. It sort of makes them reflect on everything, yada, yada, right? Yeah. I thought that they come out on the other end of this wreck and are more quote unquote, like mature and taking things seriously. So they're like, you know what, let's just go by Mr. Twin Sister. Yeah, it's a bit more dignified.

Yeah, we're an adult band now. Let's go by Mr. Twin Sister. Turns out that's completely wrong. The reason that they changed their name is actually kind of, it's even funnier than that. Apparently there was this group, another band, of actual twin sisters, that went by the name twin sisters, or twin sister maybe, that was trying to sue them. And in the middle of this, this Christian organization named twin sisters jumps in on this suit and tries to sue the other band. Oh my God. Twin sister, the band that we're talking about,

just as like, you know, we're backing out of this. Like, we don't care that much. Yeah, we're going to change our name. Yeah. It's not very Christian of you. No, it's not. And like, you know, seriously, who cares? But anyway.

Right. So it kind of works out. Take the high road. Yeah, take the high road. Either way, they kind of look back on it and say that it kind of worked out in the end because although they didn't intend, for this to happen, it actually plays kind of well with the dynamic of the band and where they

go because it really is a split. Like when you listen to their music before the name change and after, it's two very different bands, you know. So in a way, it was good timing for that because it allowed them to change their name, come out with this new record. So like a bit of rebranding. It really is, like a rebirth almost. Yeah. They go from this big record label Domino to back to self-releasing their music, right? They formed their own label called Twin Group that they released this record on. And then when you listen to some of the lyrics, a lot of people thought that this name change was trying to imply certain things because one of their singles called Blush talks about the lyrics are actually, I am a woman, but inside I'm a

man and I want to be as gay as I can. Those are the lyrics. So a lot of people inferred, try to infer some things from that. Sure. Yeah. Which, you know, obviously you would, right? But the way that they put it is this album itself is about just like nightlife in general and like how being inside of a club like you feel more free to be whoever you want to be, you know. Yeah. But on the other... In a sea of people. Yeah.

But on the other note, it sort of plays well with, number one, the name change, Mr. Twin Sister. Yep. But also the fact that this five piece, right, it's a collective. There is no one band member. The band itself is sort of androgynous in a way, you know? Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. Because they're all contributing.

Eric Cardona has a very feminine voice. He sings very high pitch. So sometimes it's hard to tell if it's her or him singing. I can tell. If you know the band, you can tell. So does he ever take the lead in some songs? He did on. Yeah, he has on a couple of tracks.

But anyway, it sort of all kind of fits perfectly, you know? Yeah, I love it. Okay. So let's play a. I'm actually going to do something that we usually don't do. We usually try to play these songs in the order that they appear on the album. But I want to play... You know, it's funny.

I was going to suggest that when we cover washed out. Oh, yeah? Yeah, there's no reason to play them in order, dude. No. We're limiting ourselves. I'm going to play track three here on their self-titled. It's called In the House of Yes. Okay.

Once again with a really long intro, right? Like it's a minute before she sings anything, right? Yeah. And, dude, what a complete flip from that song that we played earlier, right? Totally. I like how the, you know, there's just kind of random, it's not really melodic at all at the very beginning and it just kind of assembles itself, you know? Yeah, yeah.

I like that. Yeah. So the lyrics, once again, you'll see a theme with a lot of these songs, right? The lyrics are, I slipped up, felt the echo of a memory, rise up and disappear from me. Feel my cup, now that I've had two or three, I can get a little free. It feels good to celebrate the loss of my independence. I'm in the mood to let the rhythm push me out of my head. And then it sort of does that swell like into this really,

like it really opens up the song, you know, and you start to hear sort of this, like I said, disco. It sounds like kind of a disco theme, you know? Yeah. And then, you know, it goes on some more verses after that. So let's play a little bit more. Let's pick up where we left off here. What a fucking song, dude.

I'm telling you, man. Man, so many little parts, like, if you really pay attention, there's just so much going on. I mean, again, it's just, they're just really, masterful, you know, at building moments in a song, you know, changing directions in a song and then coming back. And there's a lot of really creative aspects of it, like with, like you can hear them kind of whispering throughout the song. And yeah, my, so my favorite part, it was right before that guitar, guitar, right before the saxophone solo. And it happens again earlier in the song. She's like singing alongside like a pitched down voice, like her own voice pitched down.

It's like, you. Yeah. I mean, she, so what's interesting. I wish I knew the words because that sounded dumb. That I love that. I'll tell you the words. She says, I forget my problems. You can wake me when you solve them.

And that's true. She says that right then? Yeah. What, you can't even tell. That's what she's saying. She has one of those. the way that she kind of says words and stuff, she's one of those artists.

She's like a Brit Daniel. Yeah, sure. Yeah. The word is going to fit into the melody. You know I mean? Yeah. Anyway, again, going back to the lyrics, what I love about these lyrics is that it's about,

she's in her room, drinking and dancing with music and, like, sort of like, getting lost. this music that she's listening to in her room. You know what I mean? That's really cool. Yeah. So like the lyrics again is like the first verse was, you know, fill my cup.

Now that I've had two or three, I can get a little free. The next verse, she says, fill my cup. And now that I've had three or four, I could use a couple more. And then the last verse is spilled my cup. The room is tipping to and fro. My mind is moving kind of slow. And then she's actually, what's funny is at the very end, she says, I know I should break out of these walls I have built around me.

If only I could face up to the world, let the truth surround me. So what's interesting is Andrea has in an interview, she says that she's sort of a home body, you know, and that like the demands of the label and like the touring schedule for Domino, she actually found herself not very happy, you know, and sort of angry all the time.

Yeah. And so, again, them parting ways with Domino was actually a good thing at a lot of ways. for her mental health. Yeah, so here she is talking about like, you know, she's an introvert, obviously. She's dancing alone in her, in her apartment or whatever, but she's still having a great time. Yeah, but still sort of acknowledging, like, I know I should like leave, you know, but like I just can't do it. Yeah.

But anyway. I like to like, you know, that line you were saying, my mind is moving kind of slow. I like how they like turn down the pitch real quick. Yeah, exactly. Slow. Exactly. That kind of stuff. That kind of stuff.

Yeah, you know, and I will say this. Like, you know, I saw them a couple months back at a very small venue and it was a very intimate show. There's one thing that that is so obvious with these guys is they, they have fun and they have a blast like doing this, you know. Yeah, you see me that little clip. Yeah. Of the saxophone solo part of this exact solo, yeah. Yeah, she was just kind of up there, like dancing up there while he was doing his saxophone solo. It looked great, man.

Yeah. I wish I could have caught them. Yeah, it was amazing. But anyway, another interesting thing, and what makes me love this record even more, number one, we know that they survived a new death experience in a way together as a group, right? Yeah.

But this is after they dump Domino. And so, you know, it made them have to kind of get jobs again, right? On the side. Yeah, yeah. But so I've actually got. the lineup here. Gupta, who is the keys, is a programmer, which makes perfect sense. Like, that's what he does on the side. D'Amico, the bass player, works for an I-Wore company. Cardona and the drummer work at restaurants. And then Estella is an artist. Like, she actually,

you can buy some of her stuff on her website. If you look at the record album art for Salt, which came out last year, that's some piece of art that she made. It looks very Native American. I don't know. I like it. Yeah. Well, what's funny is you could buy,

she was actually selling beads and stuff from that doll that she made. Anyway. At the concert? No, just on her website. Oh, got you. Anyway, I don't know if they're still doing these things, but that's what they were doing at the time. And that just make, like,

to hear this music, and know that this is the what comes out of these five musicians that are you know waiting tables at a restaurant or something like that during the day you know or you know selling glasses to people you know like it just it's it's amazing right because there's so much it's obviously these guys are artists you know first and like it's it's just crazy to think about you know yeah it's it's cool that they they have their nine to five but then they still get to share this with us. Yeah.

That's great. Yeah. All right. So let's move to the next track. And this is probably my favorite Mr. twin sister song. This is, again, I was kind of alluding to like Chadeh in a way. And I think you're going to hear some of that, that style on this song.

But we have to listen to the whole song. I mean, there's just no way around it. So it's six minutes and 33 seconds. So apologies up front. But you have to hear the whole song in its entirety to really appreciate it and to see just how incredible of a song it is. So try to listen to some of the melodies and how they sort of play off each other. This song is called Sensitive. And again, you're going to hear a nice slow intro build to the song.

Anyway, let's just let it play. You're right, dude. They're probably the most talented. an impressive band to come out in the last 10 years? I'm telling you, man. I mean, it doesn't... Easily. You know, one of the problems with playing the song all the way through

is that we don't get to stop and comment on it. I mean, obviously, you and I were kind of geeking out the entire time. But, you know, maybe we should go back and play a couple moments here. There's... I think I said saxophone solo. I meant to say guitar solo. Let's just play that part really quickly. because it's not really a long guitar solo.

What I like about that and what always like it's impactful on me when it happens is that her voice, you know, there's a line that she says over and over again where she says, I've forgotten everything. She says it over and over again. This time when it kind of goes into this guitar solo, it's like the perfect like handoff

because the guitar solo almost picks the exact note almost that she is singing and sort of just like plays right before she's even seen like done and sort of takes it from there it's almost like a like a baton brace handoff thing you know what I mean yeah and it kind of has like a I think it I think it maybe the drummer with the symbols it kind of swells into that guitar yeah yes it does yeah all right so let's play that again let's real quick so yeah no no uh no drum symbols but like everything complements yeah it all compliment it all compliment it's each other so well. Yeah, everything's in like perfect tandem. Base player's amazing. Let's just say that. Like his bass lines are incredible. And you know how I feel about, you know, I'm always appreciative of a drummer that keeps

it simple but effective. And this is one of those drummers, man. Yeah, yeah. And then let's play this other part here that both of you and I, we both acknowledged how fucking incredible it is. It's the next, it's the very next part after that little guitar solo thing. where everything gets kind of quiet again and then there's this thing that happens where

it's the guitar again it's kind of hard to describe so let's just play and then we'll talk about it again but it's right after this part what a what a great moment album opener yeah no kidding there's this quality to the song like it really does the funny thing is like you listen to the lyrics

I'm heavily distracted is this just an illusion or is this romantic dreaming? Yeah. The whole song sounds sort of like this dreamy sort of like... Yes, dude. It's so cinematic and like... Yeah. It's got this warmth to it

and it really does. It just feels like you're kind of like floating in this illusion kind of thing. Totally. Yeah. It's amazing. Yeah. Okay.

Anyway, I've been fucking ready to share this song on this podcast for a long time, dude. Yeah. I remember you almost died. You almost had a heart attack when you found out that I had not been keeping up with them. No. Yeah, I couldn't believe it because like we both said, we saw them together in concert almost a decade ago. Well, not quite, but it was October of 2010.

We saw him at the Kessler Theater. Is that theater still around? That's a really good question. It's got to be around. I don't know if it's called the Kessler. Yeah, it's still there. So I listen to a handful of songs from their 2011 release in Heaven, but then I just, I stopped paying attention. Well, I mean, shit, maybe you lost track of them when they changed their name, you know?

I mean, it sounds like you did. Well, I just didn't, you know, I just didn't think about them anymore. The funny thing is like, I remember when I listened to this album when it came out, I guess five years ago, came out in 2014. Like, I remember this was the first track on the album, so I'm blown away. right immediately. But I don't remember being entirely surprised by how drastic the change in sound was, maybe because of just how varied their music is. But it really is like a drastic, drastic change from what they were doing in 2010.

But it just speaks to like the guy was saying, you know. They, I think when they sit down and write and record and make music, they're making, they're making, I guess what I'm trying to say is like, they're not setting out to make any one type of record, you know what I mean? And that's what I love about it. And obviously, like we're saying

and sort of hopefully demonstrating, like the songwriting talent is just like really unmatched nowadays, you know what I mean? You don't hear this level of quality very much on a pop record. Yeah. I think it's also important, too, to remember that, like you said, every single member of this band contributes to the songwriting. So it just shows how well they work together and how well their sounds complement each other, like I was saying earlier.

I mean, it's just perfect. And while recording this record, during the day, they're, you know, waiting tables, you know, programming. you know, he's probably just doing some bullshit programming job. But anyway, that's kind of what amazes me. It's like, man, you never know what the talent that's out there, you know what I mean? Yeah. The person that is serving you a bagel is going home at night and making stuff like this, you know. It's amazing.

Oh, yeah, especially with the emergence of bedroom DIY kind of culture that we have now. Yeah. All right. So anyway, I kind of mentioned that for the most part, say this over and over again. They don't sound like they used to, right? But there is a song on here where they do sort of revisit the dream, the dreamy kind of, well, I use dream to describe the last song, but you know what I mean?

Dream pop, that sound that was all over the place in 2010. Yeah, yeah. The sound that they even had themselves back in 2010. There is a song on the end of this record called Crime Scene that I absolutely love. It's just a really great song. This might be the first time that I'm hearing this one. I don't know if I got all the way through the end of the record. We'll get ready.

Get ready. This is a great song. Her voice is great again. And you're going to have moments just like in this last song on Sensitive, where you're going to feel like moved. You know, at least you should. If you have, if music has the ability to move you, which I know it does for you, Q, you're going to feel some stuff here.

All right. So anyway, this is called crime. scene. That was beautiful. I loved how simple it was. I like when bands do that. They close out an album

in a more intimate style. Yeah, so what's interesting about that track, like you said, it's just very pretty, you know? And there's a lot of things that... That track has acoustic guitars, you know?

There's not a lot of synth or programmed beats and stuff. The rest of the album up to that point is very like almost dancey, clubby, you know. Oh, yeah. And I say clubby. There's a couple of tracks on here that we didn't play. Maybe we'll have one play us out. How about that? But there's a song called Out of the Dark and Twelve Angels.

12 Angels is extremely almost like industrial dance house music right and so that's track six track seven is sort of this like instrumental kind of slower almost like it's almost like 12 Angels is this really heavy like I said house song and then Medford track 7 is sort of like this again they're really good at this and I feel like they did this intentionally like it's almost like this handoff to crime scene, which is more like slow and sort of, like you said, prettier.

But like it's, it's great that they closed the record with that song because number one, it's a great song to close on. But it's also, it's unlike anything else that came before it on the record, you know, but it does have that.

It's got their old, a little bit more of their old sound there. Yeah, but it, you know, it just proves that they can, they can still make a music like that. But I think it is,

again, like the level of like musicianship and stuff has, like it always has improved with them, you know, year every year, but they're doing that same sound that they did back in 2010,

but it's just like the next version of it, you know? Yeah. So another thing that's interesting about this song, right? Very pretty, again, kind of dreamlike. The lyrics are literally

about a crime scene. If I read the lyrics to you, it's going to sound like like an Allison Jane's song or something like that. Bloodhounds tied in seaweed Bloodhounds in green chains Picnic on the river

Witness claimed Hair was found at the foot of the woods One watcher knew it well Pushing through the line of the cops to get closer All I want to do is be tied to you Terror through each quiet night Up and then I'm down thinking I'm dying Then back up where I forget

Those lyrics don't sound like they belong to that song at all right Or that they belong on this album. Yeah, no, definitely. Anyway, this is an album that you have to listen to all the way through. We say that a lot, I feel like. But I think the three songs that I picked show a really good representation of just how, like, talented, obviously, number one. But number two, just how varied their sound is, you know?

You will go from from, you know, a dance disco song to like a jazzy, shade-esque kind of song to something like this, all in the same album. And they do it again on the next record that came out last year called Salt. Just if I was to name a couple of my favorites

of that album, it would be TAS & Movies, tops and bottoms, and alien FM. Not that we're going to put it. play those songs, but anyway, if you're interested, go check those out. But anyway, this is one of those bands that I will purchase every record that they put out because they are just so amazingly talented and, like, you know, they will go anywhere with their music, you know. Yeah, it's great. Good stuff, my dude. So, for the sidetrack, we're going to play some music from Mr. Eric Cardona,

who is the guitar player, saxophone player, singer. He does his own solo stuff, so we're going to check him out, see what he's doing. He came out with an album this year called Sell Songs. So we'll talk about some of that. There's actually a track on here that is him plus the rest of the bandmate. So it's kind of, it's almost like another single from twin sister, but it shows up on his record.

That's cool. Anyway, maybe we'll play that one. Anyway, so I had said that I would play 12 angels to close us out, and I think I will. Because like I said, that's another track off of this record that sounds completely different than the other three that I played. So anyway, we will play that to close us out. Again, we've been talking about Mr. Twin Sisters.

If you have not heard of them, I hope this episode has sort of influenced you to go check them out. I would say listen to this record all the way through, listen to 2018's Salt all the way through, and I would also say listen to their single power of two slash echo arms. That's the A and B side. Those came out sort of, like I said, sort of in tandem with salt. But anyway, one of the best bands that's come out in the last decade, in my opinion. Q, I think I've convinced you that that is the truth. It's kind of hard to argue with that.

Yeah, you really can't. Yeah. Anyway, obviously, I could talk about these guys forever. So we will close out the episode. Check out our website, no-filler podcast.com. We will find all of our episodes with show notes accompanying each one of those that lists off the interviews and videos and whatnot. Like Quentin was saying,

we'll actually post some photos from the concert that we saw of these guys almost a decade ago when they first hit the scene. So we don't often post photos on the site, so check it out. Cool. All righty. Until next week. Until next week. My name is Travis.

and my name is Quentin. See you later. 22% of households that start the year with Peloton are still active a year later. 92% because of a bike? Not just bikes. We also make treadmills and roars. Oh, let me guess for elite athletes only, right?

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