Twinkiebots

Brandon Biondo is a human fault line, so to speak. On one sides California, site of his childhood and long-term teenage pilgrimages. On the other, theres TennesseeLenoir City, to be exactcurrent residence and birthplace of his band, Twinkiebots.And fault lines are odd junctions, as anyone whos passed through one understands. From the ground their presence is subtle, characterized perhaps by microscopically fractured asphalt or streams that veer suddenly, inexplicably off course. From the air, the agitated geography becomes more visible; the lines narrow ridges and lakes bleed into one another, giving it the impression of one long, dark shadow.But surface perception is only part of it. Only from an internal level can the truth be understood: the perpetual grinding, the restless shifting, the utter boredom of it all.Its a sensation 21-year-old Biondo can relate to. Im from California so I have some kind of weird attachment to it, but I also have a weird attachment to here, he says with a yawn in his voice. Usually whenever I move back to California its because Ive been so extremely bored here. [Knoxville] isnt the most exciting place in the world. But then I get to California and I feel the same way, so maybe its a mental problem. Maybe Im not satisfied with any place.Thankfully, his earthquakes rattle loose in the form of music. Twinkiebots, with its electro-surf folk-pop aesthetic, is a product of cultural friction between his past and present geographic locales. His West Coast upbringing manifests itself in freewheeling song structures and a tremulous, cupboard-clattering kind of energy, but theres a sense of Southern elbowroom at work as well.As a result, quirkiness is considered a local virtuewhich works out well for the envelope-pushing Twinkiebots. The bands lyrics, in particular, wander blithely off course, morphing into Shel Silverstein-esque fantasy sequences. Songs like Im The Letter In Your Scrabble That Finished Pyschobabble, My Pet Elephant, and A Pretty Day Is Just Ugly Without You are as whimsical as grade school poetry, illuminated by bright blotches of color and haunted by dark resolutions.from an article by Leslie Wylie