Forgetting for a second that Twin Atlantic’s sixth record feels like a Sam McTrusty solo album, one that continues the stylistic drift away from the band’s early guitar-driven sound, ‘Transparency’ is often a very listenable and playfully eccentric affair featuring plenty of curveballs. But although such evolution is praiseworthy, both the group’s long-standing lack of identity, and propensity for inconsistency, remain a problem.
Currently a two piece comprising McTrusty and bassist Ross McNae, following the departures of drummer Craig Kneale and guitarist Barry McKenna, who went from full time member to touring musician, the genesis of this follow-up to 2020’s electro-pop offering ‘Power’ leaves little doubt who’s pulling the creative strings.
McTrusty conceived this lo-fi effort while locked down at home, aided remotely by producer and friend Jacknife Lee.
Utilising all the capabilities afforded by his home studio, sparkling rhythmic flavours, textural guitars and sweeping synths have been deployed alongside electronic embellishments and giddy backing vocals to fashion songs that, possibly mirroring his fraught mindset, veer all over the musical map.
Dirty delivers stormy ‘90s indie-rock a la Placebo and Bang On The Gong is a commercial peach full of strutting groove and hooky infectiousness. Get Famous, meanwhile, spits out a punky ‘shut up’ slap down over the bludgeoning riff from Blur’s Song 2 and Young, a life affirming slice of indie cool, showcases McTrusty’s knack for penning winning melodies.
Tackling subjects such as marital strife, medication dependency and the absurdity of social media, ‘Transparency’ finds the singer in career-best lyrical form, his wordplay and storytelling as tender and playfully scathing as it is tongue in cheek and amusing. Confessional singer songwriter moments like Keep Your Head Up and It’s Getting Dark, in particular, are fine compositions that bleed veracity.
Sadly, not everything is that potent and, too often, you find yourself asking ‘would I want to hear this live?’ The drab and forgettable Haunt and Instigator won’t elicit a ‘hell, yes.’ Dance Like Your Mother and One Man Party, although boasting fine individual parts, needed more refinement to elevate them above semi-decent studio experiments.
Twin Atlantic have always been master mimics. Whether it’s their early Biffy Clyro-esque alt-rock attack, arena rock period or electronic indulgences, you can always rely on them to faithfully execute genre touchstones without adding too much of themselves to proceedings. Even the plentiful funk moves, and falsetto vocals, throughout this album feel like an attempt to ape what Royal Blood nailed on last year’s superb ‘Typhoons.’
The fact such issues persist suggest that, whether a band or glorified solo project, and regardless of what style is adopted, Twin Atlantic will always be the musical equivalent of a solid Premier League team. In spite of the odd great result and ability to always entertain, they can’t transcend that status and challenge for top honours.
Twin Atlantic Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon March 07 2022 - LIVERPOOL Jacaranda
Tue March 08 2022 - BRISTOL Rough Trade
Thu March 10 2022 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade
Sat March 12 2022 - KINGSTON Banquet
Sun March 13 2022 - GLASGOW King Tuts
Sun March 20 2022 - EDINBURGH Caves
Mon March 21 2022 - DUNDEE Church
Thu May 05 2022 - DUBLIN Opium
Fri May 06 2022 - BELFAST Limelight
Sun May 08 2022 - LONDON Roundhouse
Mon May 09 2022 - NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Boiler Shop
Wed May 11 2022 - INVERNESS Ironworks
Thu May 12 2022 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Fri May 13 2022 - GLASGOW Barrowland
Sun May 15 2022 - LEEDS Leeds University Stylus
Tue May 17 2022 - MANCHESTER O2 Ritz
Wed May 18 2022 - BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Thu May 19 2022 - BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
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