Album Review: Twin Limb’s Haplo Is Like A Warhol Of Music
When you think of Andy Warhol, you think genius. eccentric, and emotionally prickly. He had the ability to bring out the color of life in painting, but often the darkness of it in reality. He could be a dream or a nightmare or pop art, and Twin Limb’s goal to capture that Chelsea Girls’ essence succeeds in Haplo.
Haplo is an album for surrealists or people that enjoy magical realism. Yes, I know those are more literary themes, but Haplo feels like a literary novel put into music. Lyrically, it is as vivid and twisted as a classic plot from Wuthering Heights or Wide Sargasso Sea. In these classics, there are shadows of human ills and spells cast over characters and readers, whom are enraptured by the dreaminess and nightmarish ways of life and its turmoils. Like a Warhol or a good book, Twin Limb observes tension and exuberance through abstract sounds and images filled with double meanings, which makes their record one that stays in your mind.
I am constantly observing the spiritual and mental connections artists create through their music both in what it says of the artist and its attraction/impact on the listener. Hence, Haplo will be enjoyed art-lovers, whether of music, literature, or film, whom enjoy the disquieting thrills life offers in its choices. There are songs throughout Haplo where you can literally see the beautiful and ominous scenes they are creating like, “Sara”, “Blood Orange”, and “Red Sun”, which are stunning epics that sound like spiritual warfare: celestial and hellish. There is never one instant throughout this record where it does not sound like a struggle between fantasy and reality to conquer the mind and voice of lead songstress, Lacey Guthrie.
Guthrie’s voice feels like a spiritual chant, it hypnotizes with its ease and ability to activate your soul without your will. Her voice feels like the delicate, fiery red petals of a withering rose; she manages to mystify with the waning beauty/ gentility of her voice. I am absolutely in love with her voice and its ability to be so gorgeously lost. It is as if every song is a new chapter in Guthrie’s journey to overcome the ocean of emotional and mental woes that have plagued her. Yet, when she harmonizes with fellow vocalist Maryliz Bender, you will feel like these two carry more sorcery in their vocals than any Harry Potter novel. That may sound like a comical analogy, but the way these two ladies’ voices meld over Kevin Ratterman’s guitar and keys is pure magic. It is in those instances that the already imaginative record soars from being a cinematic experience in your mind to feeling like a theatre production running before you. Certain hooks and melodies like in “Aine” or “Sutro Baths” are so wondrous you cannot contain your desire to touch them like they are silkened, gold threads at your grasp. Add in pulsing drums and even accordion arrangements, and Haplo feels inter- dimensional in effect.
While some records want to take you to another world or aspect of your being, this novel/album is all about another, picturesque dimension. Although Haplo is loaded with so much human sentiment, that you might find yourself crying from its pretty words and rhythms, i.e. “Sara”, what makes it phenomenal is that it seems from another dimension. In this dimension, magic is not only real, but it enacted by your feelings with light emanating from love and darkness descending from doubt, which is true of one’s spirit. For more information on Twin Limb and to Buy Haplo Clikc Here.
