The last few years have seen rock bands and singers - who for so long eschewed their roots to offer a mid-Atlantic non-descript drawl - re-embrace their formative surroundings. This counts doubly for Scottish groups: in recent times, we've seen The Twilight Sad, Frightened Rabbit, Glasvegas and We Were Promised Jetpacks emerge on the scene with their deep Scottish brogues audible over the various brands of rock they produce. Add to this list Twin Atlantic, who have actually been around since 2007 but released their first album, "Vivarium", only last year. "Lightspeed", the first single from the debut, actually came out in June 2009 on download, but resurfaces here in the standard CD single format.
As with all of the bands mentioned above, how much you enjoy the music is going to depend on how much you can stomach the accent. Sam McTrusty's vocals are raw, occasionally coming across as a guttural sneer, but they lack the broken-man pathos of Billy Kennedy (Frightened Rabbit) or the unrelenting bleakness of James Graham (The Twilight Sad). It's pristinely produced, with swirling guitar melodies that switch between the overdrive-laden, sing-along chorus, and chiming, Edge-like arpeggios. If you're looking for a Scottish band that they're closest to, I would plump for Biffy Clyro's brand of cacophonic rock, but there's the power-pop sensibilities of Ash thrown in for good measure too. Not particularly inventive, it must be said, but they've got plenty of energy, the chorus of "Lightspeed, lightspeed/they're never gonna get us all/they're never gonna set us free" is common-cold catchy and they even find time for a quick mid-song break cum solo. Not bad for three minutes and twenty-two seconds.
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Twin Atlantic on Myspace
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