twin shadow - confess

Twin Shadow

Confess
4AD;2012

4 out of 5

_"Confess" is US Synth Pop artist Twin Shadow's sophomore disc, and it takes one right back to the eighties. If you liked Depeche Mode, The Cure, and Bowie, then this is for you. At 10 tracks clocking in under 40 minutes, the songs cut right to the chase.

Opening is the swirling atmospheric stomper "Golden Light", followed by the abrasive guitar-driven "You Call Me On" (with oddball time shifts), the galloping Bowie-meets-Cure "Five seconds", the moody slow-fast "Run My Heart" (with growling bass and the lines "You don't run my heart / So don't pretend you can / Can't you see I'm not in love?" ), while his whispery smooth vocals wrap around the Cure-channeling "The One".

The catchy "Beg For The Night" has a choppy echoey feel. The danceable "Patient" is a groovy R&B number with disjointed effects and lashings of squealing guitar. "When The Movie's Over" is an alluring mid tempo song that recalls Bowie. Closing the album are the closest approximation to ballads; "I don't Care" (set to a funereal beat and sprinklings of piano), and "Be Mine Tonight"

More than an exercise in nostalgia, this feels vital and original.

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