A cover of Ultravox's Vienna currently greets visitors to the Twin Planets website which is misleading as the Liverpudlian band have since moved away from their earlier synth-driven songs to a strident guitar based sound.
The eleven songs on their debut album are also quite wordy and they seem unable or unwilling to write catchy hooks. The influence of 80s pop is still in there but has to compete with less overtly commercial elements.
The "textural guitars" actually give the tunes a strong Math rock character, so much so that it would have been interesting to hear them dispense with the vocals more often. As it is, the only instrumental is the two minute opening track, Centipede.
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There's an intensity about James Rookyard's vocals but I am a loss to know what he is so earnest about.
The stark image of a red planet on the cover and the eleven one word track titles like Communicator, Intervallics and Empires (the first single) give the impression that the songs may be linked by some overriding concept of a dystopian future.
The band are following a new direction but appear torn as to whether to go pop or rock out.
Twin Planets' website
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