Two Tongues - Two Tongues [Album]

Vagrant Records - Released 3rd Feb 09

February 18, 2009, 08:15 PM

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Two Tongues is a collaborative project between Max Bemis and Coby Linder of Say Anything and Chris Conley and Dave Soloway of Saves The Day, something which apparently happens with great regularity among indie rock circles (note, for example, the brilliant Razia's Shadow by Forgive Durden, on which both Bemis and Conley feature). One could be forgiven for thinking that there are hundreds of indie songwriters who just spend all day rocking around the American countryside in a Bewitched-style sitcom format, saying to each other, "Hey, let's make a new band! (twitchy nose, twitchy nose) There we go!" and wondering where all of the canned laughter is coming from.

It is, however, a very good thing that this happens. The whole genre is prevented from stagnating because of the constant mix 'n' match, and fresh ideas are allowed to bubble through, progressing music as a whole while we listen. And so it is with Two Tongues' eponymous debut.

Two Tongues (the album) contains a great amount of well-worked ideas, from If I Could Make You Do Things' intensely cool guitars and disco-like beats to Wowee Zowee's power-pop to rock transformations, and from Crawl's well-worked vocals to Back Against The Wall's what-if-Pendulum-did-funk synth-and-rhythm combos.

There is a problem with these pick 'n' mix match-ups, however. There isn't really enough time to consistently create these great ideas, so albums do tend to flag a little on the ingenuity stakes while the artists regress to the tried-and-tested methods involved with the "Well, we had fun making it" ethos. It tells on Two Tongues, with tracks such as Dead Lizard and Come On not really cutting it overall. There's still some cool bits to each of these songs, just not enough to save them from mediocrity. Occasionally, the vocals get a little much - a bit American, you might say - and the lyrics falter when you concentrate on them, but the rest of the instruments are generally excellent. The guitars add some really cool little touches, the bass is restrained and well-placed, and the drums are steady and powerful.

So, overall, Two Tongues (the album) is really good, with some brilliant pieces of inventive musicianship, but not quite good enough to be on a par with the likes of Weezer or Biffy Clyro, to whom Two Tongues (the band) can be compared. Still worth adding to your collection, though.

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