Forging a new musical identity is hard, especially when you lose
\nan iconic central figure to your previous group. In the case of
\nMorphine, the central figure was Mark Sandman, who created one of
\nthe 1990s most criminally underrated bands. He died onstage while
\nperforming in Rome in 2000.<\/p>\n
After touring briefly under the name Orchestra Morphine (a sort
\nof tribute to Sandman’s legacy), remaining members Billy Conway
\n(drums) and Dana Colley (sax) came together and created Twinemen.
\nThe signatures of Morphine remained (smoky sax, tight, minimal
\npercussion), but the lead singer position was occupied by Laurie
\nSargent. Many critics and more than a few Morphine fans unfairly
\nviewed their self-titled debut album as “Morphine with a female
\nsinger.” However, with a few spins, you could hear a new group
\nslowly emerge.<\/p>\n
\nSideshow<\/i>, Twinemen’s second album, continues to sound like a
\nband still trying to find their strengths and play off them. The
\nsexy atmosphere and melancholy lyrics that were present in
\nvirtually all of Morphine’s albums is felt all over
\nSideshow<\/i>. However, unlike Morphine’s primarily ‘bass, sax
\nand drums’ sound, Twinemen incorporates trombone, piano, keyboards,
\nguitar, harmonica and organ.<\/p>\n
The inclusion of so many instruments in their arsenal works in
\nkeeping listeners on their toes for the first couple of listens.
\nUnlike Morphine’s focused jams, Twinemen is a looser concoction,
\ndrawing comparisons to Ratdog and other jam bands. Some
\nexperiments, such as “Speed of Light” and “Saturday,” would no
\ndoubt sound great on a live stage, but on the stereo, it’s a soupy
\nmess.<\/p>\n
Still, when Twinemen put the focus on the rhythm, they’re damn
\nnear unstoppable. The sexy vibe of “I Slept Through It” and
\n“Benedict’s Marching Band,” are great testaments that the band will
\nno doubt eventually be regarded as a separate entity and not
\nforever be in the shadow of its members former band.<\/p>\n
\nSideshow<\/i> definitely has a cohesive feel of an album.
\nUnfortunately, the most appealing songs are at the beginning and
\nthe band finds itself experimenting more and more as the album goes
\nalong. “A Little Strange” gets things back on track in terms of
\nrhythm, but Laurie Sargent’s vocals are missing for much of the
\nsecond half of the album. Billy Conway and Patina Willshine do a
\ndecent job vocal-wise, but it seems that Sargent just mysteriously
\nvanishes, like a central figure of a movie who inexplicably
\ndisappears halfway through the movie and doesn’t appear until after
\nthe climax.<\/p>\n
For all its imperfections,
\nSideshow<\/i> still is a worthy purchase. Hell, the imperfections
\nare one of
\nSideshow<\/i>‘s biggest charms. It’s hard to tell what mood you
\nneed to be in to hear this mix of styles. A few scotches, a patient
\ndisposition and an open mind is definitely recommended. At the end,
\nyou are not too sure where Twinemen are headed in their next album,
\nbut your curiosity will no doubt be wetted after listening to
\nSideshow<\/i>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7102],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-38210","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-twinemen","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38210"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38210"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}