Twin Terrace

Another artist on the edge of americana. I realise that some of the artists that I blog about may not be classed as pure americana or alt-country but that's to be expected (I think anyway) in a place like Ireland. Wouldn't you expect artists, singers, songwriters from this island to be influenced by a multitude of different genres especially when you think how far from the US and how little they, we, us would have been exposed to that genre in the past. Its different now I know but when you think of the music; the links between Irish traditional and roots music in America and how country and thus Americana and alt-country music developed from that, it is no surprise we have come full circle; Irish bands with an americana sound. I always wondered why I was never a big fan of Irish Traditional and yet loved every bit of American roots I could hear. Maybe it’s to do with perception. I'm sure there is a blogger out there in the middle of Nebraska or somewhere right now talking about the latest Chieftains album. Maybe the fields seem greener the further you look...

I type all this as I listen to Twin Terrace. Listening to the new album Plural has me thinking about influences and how they manifest themselves. Twin Terrace is the moniker of Gavin Redmond, a Dubliner (God I’m starting to write like a journalist, stop me!). Anyway listening to the album, I hear all these alt-country influences. Tracks like "Thin Air" with its beautiful slide guitar and the delicate "You Keep Coming Back" remind me of Gene Clark. All the songs sound like they were slowly and deliberately constructed. There is space in each song. Sparse might be the word but that suggests coldness. There is real warmth to these tracks.

I've just picked two tracks to give you an idea of the album. "Our Friend The Atom" is a straight up rock track with a beautiful vocal hook. It's reminiscent of 90's Wilco.

The second track I am very fond of is "Victory Square". It starts off slow and acoustic, then halfway the bass comes in, then those 70's sounding dampened, dry drums (well that's my technical term for them), organ and those female vocals (Catherine Dolan apparently). I’m not afraid to say it evokes Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris to me.

You can buy the album here. The nearest thing to an official band site is the Facebook here.