Twin Tigers

Gray Waves (Old Flame)

By Daniela Garcia
Published: March 13th, 2010 | 7:00am

In theory, the psychedelic noise pop that Twin Tigers has set out to create is an interesting take on the shoegaze indie rock that’s normally worth a listener’s time. The influence of bands like My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth are easily found amongst its somewhat artsy arrangements — yet, any attempt to emulate their inspirations just comes off as poorly executed. As a result, Gray Waves seems to be an earnest yet still mediocre effort at a debut studio album.

With far too much heavy-handed distortion throughout the majority of the album, the decent melodies are pushed into the background of the tracks. The lyrical and vocal content also leave a great deal to be desired. It’s almost as if vocalist Matthew Rain’s contribution is thrown into the mix as an afterthought. On tracks like “Sexless Love,” he is practically incomprehensible as his voice fades away behind all the noise. The same goes for “Crystal Highway” which is drowned in reverb and riffs, the vocals muffled and the lyrics even harder to decipher.

It seems that the redeeming qualities of Gray Waves are well hidden. A few good guitar melodies can be found in tracks like “Red Fox Run” and “Watershed.” The title track is by far the best that Twin Tigers has to offer, where dreamy chords are successfully combined with heavier riffs and Rain’s vocals are clear and strong. Overall, the weaknesses in Gray Waves outweigh its strengths. Twin Tigers might need to focus on what it does best (and lose some of that reverb) before trying again on its next LP.

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Old Flame