Twin Tribes’ ‘Shadows’ is ostensibly a kidnapping/snuff video set to an anthemic 80s-era new wave gothic soundtrack. Not for naught, or is it? These aren’t supposed vampires, they have no sharply-elongated canines to speak of and so the entire video endeavor seems driven by a coldly craven lust for murder power. A savage depiction of blood lust horror, wet raw, well-done, and tastefully end-credit-sated.
“This time of night feels like I’m losing my mind to find,
The smell of blood in my dreams,
Darkness and silence bring the fear in your eyes tonight,
The cold invades you to sleep.”
Their previously featured track ‘Portal To The Void‘ is as catchy as it is melancholic and infinitely danceable. ‘Shadows’ is, by comparison, more of a tour-de-force of Twin Tribes’ gothic occult sensibilities, designed to be shocking but still dancefloor spirited. The former magnifies the music, while the latter amplifies the storyline. Both originated from stellar namesake-album Shadows and both are as irresistible as hell.
“Our crescent shadows seem to find their way out of time,
They make their way through the trees,
No one will find us as we walk through the dark tonight,
The cold invades you to sleep.”
Like stepping out into a winter’s night and catching a first breath of cold, crisp air, Twin Tribes present their brand of chilly romanticism with rare clarity. While they’re perfectly capable of conjuring a sense of wistful melancholy, there’s a hasty sense of need and immediacy to “Tower Of Glass”, and even the doomed fatalism of “Portal To The Void” has a refreshing sobriety to it. It sounds contradictory to describe songs about secrets, spires, and seances (or as the band themselves put it, “the undead and parallel universes”) as earnest or guileless, but the apparent innocence with which Twin Tribes depict their nocturnal wonderland is charming and disarming.
Shadows album review on idieyoudie.com
“Don’t sleep till we fade,
Your skin left undead,
We’ll sleep till we fade away.”
~
Twin Tribes’
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LABEL: YOUNG & COLD RECORDS
Well, the video certainly had a bloody ending. Leave it to a woman to be the most vicious of the lot. 😏
In an off-hand way, this reminds me of “Pumped Up Kicks” by Foster the People, in that the feeling one gets from the upbeat tempo doesn’t jive with the words. My boss and I were into the same style of music, and a few years back when the song was popular, I asked her if she liked “Pumped Up Kicks”, and she said definitely. I asked her if she knew what the song was about, and she answered, “ Shoes, I think.” 😂 Anyway, I told her to look up the lyrics, and the next day, she said, “Oh, my god, I didn’t know it was about a school shooter!” “Shadows” falls into the category of I-don’t-know-what-the words-are-but-it-sounds-damn-good. I looked up the lyrics (as usual), and found them…interesting. 🖤
Yep, I remember when the lyrics to ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ finally hit me, embarrassingly late. I really love the juxtaposition of grim lyrics to upbeat music and, like you, found it funny odd that other people never seemed to realize (or care for that matter) that the lyrics were about an imminent school shooting. In a 2011 Rolling Stone interview, Foster said: “I was trying to get inside the head of an isolated, psychotic kid. It’s a ‘fuck you’ song to the hipsters in a way – but it’s a song the hipsters are going to want to dance to. The song is not about condoning violence at all. It’s the complete opposite. The song is an amazing platform to have a conversation with your kids about something that shouldn’t be ignored, to talk about it in a loving way.” So funny about your boss. I wonder if she decided she didn’t like the song after you showed her what it was really about… 😅🖤
She still liked the song, though it shook her up a little. Understandable since she had two small children in grade school. 🖤