The rift - Twelve Minutes and a day

The Rift

Twelve Minutes and a Day
self-released; 2013

3.9 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Aleena Arfan and Charlotte Adams are a 16-year-old female duo from Leeds, UK called The Rift. On their first studio   EP Twelve Minutes and A Day the duo shows they are talented well, well beyond their years. They both have great voices and complement each other nicely throughout the five songs on the EP. The songs are rich with diversity ranging from an instrumental track to song loaded with production too very sparse acoustic songs. 

“Twelve Minutes And A Day” kicks off the EP and is one of the catchiest tunes on the album. The guitars are simple but effective while the drums drive the energy but the vocal work is what brings it all together. They vocals reminded me a bit of Waxahatchee. The lyrics are original as the vocalist sings “You don't mind the heat of the fire / And if you run your feet'll get stuck in the mire / Lightning hitting a church's spire as you listen to the buzzing of an amplifier / Your senses heightened / As the hold on your heart is tightened / What an imagination.” 

“Panacea” is the instrumental track on the album that feels like a light mountain breeze against your face. Sparse piano and guitar are strategically placed along the rolling tom drums. There are no lyrics but they use their voices in a way that seem like cries from the mountaintop. 

“Overthrown” was the highlight of the EP for me. The song showcases how good they are at overlapping their voices and creating harmonies. Right before the two-minute mark the song starts to explode with varied instrumentation and exuberance. The song dissolves and then within the last minute returns triumphantly exuding more power than before. The album ends with another solid song called “Let’s Pretend” with lyrical content that made me wonder if these girls were actually 16. The vocalist sings “Let's run away from stress / I won't bring a mirror because you say you look a mess / We'll sleep beneath the stars cause it's the best / So much better than the night sky painted on a ceiling .” The song is sweet and tinged with melancholy. They pull it off wonderfully.

Twelve Minutes and A Day is a good EP regardless of what age you are. I have no shame in admitting that a 32-year-old man was thoroughly enjoying it. 

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