In 2010, a relatively unknown band from Long Island under the name Twin Sister released their second EP, Color Your Life. The sultry disco take hinted at modest stardom for a band who had all the makings of a big “indie band” at the time; a soft singing female vocalist, a slight R&B influence, and a couple of obscure EP’s on small labels that hinted at bigger things to come. But things haven’t quite work out for Twin Sister in the sense of “making it big.” They released a decent debut (In Heaven), on indie juggernaut Domino, that received a small cult audience, but didn’t launch them into the stardom many anticipated. Then, a bus crash while on tour hospitalized and nearly killed all the band members. Not even a sample on the biggest rap album of the year could warrant someone saying that Twin Sister was going to last.
But now they’re back, albeit under a new name and label. Their sound has changed considerably to be sleeker, sexier, and all around more suited for a late night. Opener “Sensitive” swirls around your head for a minute and a half before a soft, seductive beat kicks in, showing off their newfound songwriting prowess. Disco and R&B are all you’re going to find here (minus the gorgeous slow ballad single “Blush”), with Mr. Twin Sister shedding any sort of idea that they are an “indie” band. “In the House of Yes” is a straight up dance cut; “Rude Boy” shares the same name as a Rihanna song, but ends up sounding like the antithesis to it. The record is absolutely beautiful, with every synth and drum hit sounding like it was meticulously labored over. The end product is a record set perfectly for any late night activity, whether it is a swanky club or a casual ride around the city.
With this sleek new change in sound (along with a change in name), it’s no surprise that Mr. Twin Sister is largely a record about self-reflection. Lead single “Blush” finds front woman Andrea Estella pondering if she if she “will always be alone” and later pondering “Is there even a real me? Or am I just a series of nights?”. Later, during the chorus of the disco take “Out of the Dark”, Estella defiantly sings “I am a woman, but inside I am a man”. These lyrics show up all over the record, showing the bands confidence in tackling concepts not usually touched on. Darkness shrouds many of
these songs, yet the record itself is a joy to hear. Simply the fact that Mr. Twin Sister are able to make such a fun sounding record about the dark secrets we all possess is a feat by itself.
Mr. Twin Sister have miraculously managed to survive amidst all the hype they gained early in their career, and have come out sounding different and even better than before. You get the sense that everything they did earlier was building up to this release. Mr. Twin Sister is a record that sounds confident, sexy, soft, and confrontational all at the same time – which is no small feat for any band. Here’s to hoping that Mr. Twin Sister continues to grow and search for themselves in the releases that follow.
Evan Campbell is a freshman at Missouri studying Journalism and Business.He attended Booker T Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts where he studied Jazz Guitar and got one on one meetings with other musicians such as Erykah Badu. He hopes to one day write for a music blog, or perform music for a living.