Led by founding members Jane Fitzsimmons (vocals) and Ian Jones (guitar), the Nashville-based indie rock act Twen can trace their origins to Boston’s DIY scene — and since their formation, the band has been busily redefining what a touring band should be and do in the streaming age. Having released nothing more than a live EP recorded from the band’s debut performance in a Boston basement, the band has been touring non-stop over the past couple of years, honing and perfecting a raw and mesmerizing live show.
Proudly ascribing to the DIY ethos, Twen’s core duo have run AirBNBs while touring, played in exchange for skydiving, screen printed self-designed merch items by hand and book their own tours. Interestingly, with the release of their proper debut single “Waste,” the Nashville-based duo quickly emerged into the national scene with praise from the likes of NPR, Stereogum, Paste Magazine, BrooklynVegan, Uproxx, Under The Radar and others — and they’ve managed book a tour, opening for acclaimed Louisville-based JOVM mainstays White Reaper. (You can check out the tour dates below. The tour will include a few headlining dates, including a June 20, 2019 stop at Union Pool.)
In the meantime, the duo’s latest single is the slow-burning and shoegazy “Holy River.” Centered around shimmering reverb-drenched guitar chords, propulsive drumming, a soaring hook and Fitzsimmons gorgeous and plaintive vocals, their latest single sonically speaking will most likely draw comparisons to 4AD Records heyday, Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, A Storm in Heaven-era The Verve, The Cranberries and Beach House — but with a yearning, dream-like quality that gives the ethereal track a subtle bit of emotional weight. Interestingly, the song as the duo share in press notes was written as an ode to their new hometown, upon their arrival from Boston.
Directed by the band’s Jen Fitzsimmons, the video which is set in an incredibly verdant forest possesses a fitting dream-like logic as we see a woman expressively dancing with a sheet and the members of Twen, observing and dancing in the background in red from head to toe. It’s a slow-burning fever dream of a visual that evokes the wildness of nature and of one’s own dreams.
