Twin Tigers Sharpens Claws (feature on Boise's Arbiter)

Twin Tigers sharpens claws

http://media.www.arbiteronline.com/media/storage/paper890/news/2009/02/19/Culture/Twin-Tigers.Sharpens.Claws-3636956.shtml

DALE W. EISINGER Culture Editor

With a locked-in rhythm section and a towering, but comfortable sound, Twin Tigers from Athens, Ga., surfs waves of noise/psychedelic/shoegaze ushered in by the likes of fuzzsters No Age, Deerhunter, and the recently resurrected My Bloody Valentine. Sure, it sounds a little familiar.

But where those "big" bands seem more exacting, Twin Tigers thrives on the sheer pleasure of the groove more than a dense sonic tableaux. The Tigers could get nods from introverted Violens listeners as well as drearier fans of Asobi Seksu.

Don't let that offend you, fans para Seksu; Twin Tigers just take a little more time in getting to the point. But it always goes down smooth.

A new EP by the quartet is out now digitally and on 7-inch under Old Flame Records.

Side A, "Sexless Love," hits heavy right off the bat and slides into a lofty chant.

Glamorous but unadorned, ferocious, devastating and ultimately forgiving, the sky-high climax touches the cohesion of TV on the Radio but still holds its own.

Side B, "Envy," really stands out, building into a jamming bridge slowly, carefully, but without losing the directive of the groove. While it sounds as fresh as anything right now, the coolest thing about this song is the "How it Feels to be Something On" Sun Day Real Estate vibe.

"Man we gotta put this out!" Matthew Rain, Twin Tigers frontman, said of the band's shared sentiment in creating the release. "I don't want to say scrapped together. It makes me happy because we just started this new collective with this record label. All the attention is kind of unnerving. I've been playing music since I was a little kid. You never know what people are going to familiarize with in our tunes, but it's always great."

The driving vocals of "Envy" really make the track exceptional. "I know you're out there/I feel your eyes on me/I know the reason for your demons."

"It's a song with a story just like any other - lost love. Nothing entirely new," Rain said. "Envy" closes with a noisy, unconstrained guitar flail, giving credit where credit is due to masters of noise (Sonic Youth, Boris, etc.).

With Deerhunter and of Montreal as precedents for stage antics (among a cast of many legendary Athens acts), Rain says the live show is energetic and thoughtful.

"You can't think about that stuff," Rain, who lived in Orofino at one time, said. "I don't think you even have to be a music critic to understand that sometimes you can get over the top when dialing it in."

Practicing in a rented basement on the eastside of Athens, Twin Tigers draws as much from the Beatles and Velvet Underground as the aforementioned artists. "My favorite record last year was that Beach House album ["Devotion"]," Rain said.