MeandthetwinS

MeandthetwinS are an instrumental band that started out in 1998 when Rachel, Laura and Paul met at art college in Hartlepool. They began playing a mix of noisy feedback and quiet acoustic music inspired by a mutual love of Low, Aerial M, Pavement, Mogwai, My Bloody Valentine and Sonic Youth among many others. Their sound changed and became bigger after relocation to Newcastle, when Narbi joined the band to play drums around 2001. Their approach was to make simple, ego-free music that evolved according to its own logic and had a life of its own, allowing songs to come from long practices playing around with different combinations of sounds and feelings. What resulted was a cinematic mix of sounds that could switch from sweet to foreboding in the breadth of a chord change. In 2003 they recorded an eponymous 6 track EP with Peter Brewis of Field Music. They continue to play music together whenever they can....................Also see Chippewa Falls & Maxïmo ParkA review... Spring is here. So why is it raining? I don’t know.Have you ever tried to describe in words something as abstract as sound? It’s really hard. Music reviews tend to fall into two categories: first, excitable exclamations about how this band will change your life coupled with equally excitable comparisons with other bands. Second: earnest descriptions of the music coupled with equally earnest comparisons with other bands. The first is the policy of the all-new Jackie-lookalike NME, and the second is the policy of weirdy-beardy types at The Wire. (Just thought I’d get those stereotypes out of the way.)MeandthetwinS are a four-piece from dear old not very sunny quite rainy and cold Newcastle upon Tyne, and as far as I know this minialbum is a demo. They like guitars (who doesn’t? Oh yeah, Milan Kundera - nobody’s perfect I suppose) and this demo features seven instrumental tracks which are by turn melancholy, whimsical and - well, kind of rainy.The likelihood is that you haven’t heard MeandthetwinS music before, so I’m going to give you some clues about how they sound to my sensitive ears. A little like the Velvets after John Cale left them (think Foggy Notion); a little like early New Order circa Power, Corruption and Lies (think Leave Me Alone); and a little like the Durutti Column.It’s still raining - summer in Newcastle eh? I like it.-Andrew Russell/may 15th 2004/