You're sat on a boat in the centre of a lake, your legs dangling over the side and your toes are splashing in the water. Or you could be on a beach, watching the sun go down, warming yourself by a crackling campfire. The prospect of lying on your back, counting the stars isn't too bad either.
Whatever your preferred dreamy scenario, put on TWIN ATLAS's album "Sun Township", shut your eyes, and let the wonderfully soporific music wash over you and take you to a galaxy far, far away.
Twin Atlas emulate the classic harmony-driven sound that bands like The Byrds, Elliot Smith, and Teenage Fanclub had, and they do it bloody well. Although there is no real twist on their take of this style, and some songs can perhaps become slightly repetitive, the overall album is delightful. And with healthy amounts of acoustic guitars, mandolins, and wistful harmonies, you can't really go wrong. And interestingly, this album was recorded and produced at the artists' home. Unless this is pointed out, it's hard to tell.
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'Sun Township' opens with the short, but very sweet "Roll On", which ends far too soon - this track could go on forever, and it would still remain fresh and gorgeous. "Wrap the Day" is slow and distant, like haze produced from the Summer heat on tarmac, whereas "Come Inside" is darker - "When all the islands have drowned or dried/ I think we'll know the timings right to come inside". Towards the end though, the song lifts and becomes more hopeful.
It's great to hear songs were you become emotionally attached to them (well, at least now you know that this W&H writer has stalker tendencies).
Although some of the other tracks on Sun Township err slightly too much on the chirpy side, it seems that Twin Atlas do 'thoughtful melancholy' best of all. Truly a thing of beauty.
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