Saturday, November 6, 2021

Albums of the Year # 50 POSTDATA - Twin Flames

 


 


A rather exciting, personal musical discovery for me last week, (thanks Rod), was this one. Twin Flames, the latest from Canadiant outfit POSTDATA. Note the capitals. That's how they want to be presented. They're an Art Rock concern if you want labels, but not one that do what they do in conventional manners. There's plenty to explore and think about here. I'll do my best in the coming paragraphs.


First of all they remind me of the early Eighties, when I personally was first really starting to listen to music and read books and truly think about them alongside constructing my own adult identity. They sound like a lot of those early British synth bands who were starting to make their early waves then, weaved out of dreams, intuition and ambition.


What I like most about POSTDATA is their emotional attack. It's subtle but quite obviously heartfelt and nuanced. The band's singer and designated leader, Paul Murphy, (also of Wintersleep), is at the core of their sound. His voice is deeply warm and powerful and can affect the lstener, or at least it affected this one, in strange ways, with its quite palpable sincerity and intent.


Twin Flames is not an album that opens its petals all at once. It's clearly impacted by deep emotional intensity, thoughts and not always happy or easy ones but Murphy martials all that is going on with a quite courageous intent to make the record a glorious, immersive journey.


There's a thread going through this. The songs here are not melodically or structurally similar, there's a lot of variety here. But they're united by a core mission statement of commitment and bravery that is quite unusual in 2021. Twin Flames is one to return to and get to know. It's a brilliantly conceived and executed statement.

No comments:

Post a Comment