Melty, Twangy Garage Rock
The Chicago indie rock band’s rollout for this album was pretty neat: releasing a seven-inch vinyl for every two singles they release in 2017, totaling up to six separate seven-inches. With their usual sometimes lo-fi sound, Twin Peaks come back with a twangy, subtly blues-tinged series of tunes. Throughout this project, Sweet ’17 Singles softly switches from Bob Dylan-esqe vocals, to modern airy garage-rock guitars, to sad, bluesy piano and backing drums.
“Tossing Tears” kicks off the album with a slumping, guitar lick driven song, and incorporates some nice callback vocals on the verses. The following track, “Under the Pines,” goes into Foxygen territory with its gruff and shouty vocals and ’60s ‘la las.’ Even though the composition on this track isn’t the most dynamic, the horns towards the backend are a good touch. “Shake Your Lonely” and a few more songs sound Wilco inspired, and has plenty of slide guitars and creamy vocal lines, especially on the track “Come for Me.”
The highlight on this record might be “Blue Coupe,” which showcases a very sweet piano melody and a changeup in vocal tone. Its progression between the vocals and chorus are more distinct than the rest of the records, and as a cool, ghostly synth pop-up occasionally. The last few tracks are also solid soulful garage rock tunes, “With You” and “We Will Not Make It (Not Without You).” The band pushes for a nice flow for the album, and the closing track is the longing, soulful piano ballad the album needed to finish off with a bang.
Twin Peaks’ material on this is a nice touch between soulful and airy indie rock.
Although some tracks seem a little dime-a-dozen, there are some sweet moments that sound nostalgic in nature. It’s a nice record to play around the house, but not as enthralling or exciting as some releases of the throwback, bluesy garage rock craze are.
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