Labels: Nordic Fir
Review by: Joe Callaghan
When being sent a stack of stuff to review, I’ve noticed you don’t hear that much shit-in-your-own-ears terrible stuff, just like you don’t hear that much brilliant stuff either. Almost everything is in that “Ehh, it’s alright” bracket. I’ve got shelves interspersed with CD’s and records which were inoffensive enough to warrant keeping, but I can’t imagine listening to them again this year. Unsurprisingly, Twin Falls’ We Will Begin To Flicker EP easily forces its way into my top 27 (somewhere around the lower-middle) “okay-records-that-I’ll-only-listen-to-once’ charts with aplomb. Average, uncomfortable aplomb, like when you rent a Tuxedo for a wedding you don’t even want to go to because weddings are shite.
I’ve never quite taken to anything described as folk. It all just comes across to dreary and drab. It’s all a bit soft, and there’s nothing convincing about it, most of the time. The accent is blunt enough to force all melodies to stumble, and the parts that are meant to be catchy, end up feeling flat and lifeless. The girl/boy harmonies are almost reasonably joyous, but when there’s acoustic guitars involved, it’s often a first port of call, isn’t it? The layers of instrumentation are what kicks this up a notch from being another “waffling about problems over an acoustic guitar’ into something a little more ruthless, which is commendable at least. Still, it’s all very safe and soft. Sure, he swears a little. But does he mean it? He probably apologises to his mum in the liner notes, that’s how unconvincing it sounds.
So, it’s okay. But you know what they say. One man’s “Meh” is another man’s “Fuck yeah!”. I said it. Just now.