8 <strong>June</strong> May <strong>2016</strong>
TWIN RIVER finding depth downstream Written by Gregory Adams Photo by Shimon There are plenty of artists involved in the making of Vancouver-bred Twin River’s sophomore full-length, Passing Shade. Most of them congregated over to Colin Stewart’s current Hive recording facility on Vancouver Island over the course of two recording sessions last year, one in the summer and one the following winter. One conspirator’s contribution to the record’s first single, “Settle Down,” is unexpected though, considering he’s long dead. In fact, he’s been underground for centuries. As band founder Courtney Ewan explains, the divide between her academic and creative worlds isn’t exactly cut and dry, which is how a project translating the work of Euripides, a tragedian of classical Athens, managed to seep into Twin River. “He wrote a play called Hecuba. Many playwrights did, actually. That’s sort of the way it went. It focuses on her [Hecuba] experiences after the fall of Troy. She’s just lost her whole family — all of her children, her husband,” Ewan tells <strong>BeatRoute</strong>, noting that she’d staged a production of the mythological tale earlier this year while studying in Montreal. “When I wrote ‘Settle Down,’ it was at the same time as I was translating the play. I never really realized until I was typing out the lyrics for the liner notes that I absolutely ripped off Euripides. I was typing out a line and I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s not my thought. That’s not my idea.’ I felt absolutely sheepish for a second, but that’s what [playwrights] do all the time.” To say the least, Ewan’s got a handle on the classics. Spending a blessedly sunny Friday afternoon walking around Vancouver’s idyllic Seawall, she’s beaming with enthusiasm as she talks about not only her group’s new record, but starting up a PhD program at New York University this coming fall. The latter comes just as she’s wrapped up her time-intensive studies at McGill. In between school sessions, she writes, records, and performs with Twin River. “I’m trying to figure out if I’m a social or anti-social person,” Ewan explains. “I think I have strong tendencies to be both, which I think allows me to be an academic half of my life and performer the other half.” While a move to Quebec a couple years ago might have discouraged other bands, Ewan has managed to make it work with the rest of Twin River. Founded as the folk-dusted duo of vocalist/guitarist Ewan and guitarist Andy Bishop before expanding into a five-piece lineup for 2015’s pop and rock-exploring Should the Light Go Out, the outfit’s schedule can often be stunted by the distance between Ewan and her West Coast-based compatriots. And while her and Bishop handle all the arrangements, the shape of the rest of the group is in constant flux. Looking over the liner notes to Passing Shade, the songs were recorded with varying lineups that could include bassist Franceso Lyon (White Ash Falls), keyboardists Rebecca Gray (Yukon Blonde), or Melissa Gregerson and drummers Dustin Bromley or Jordan MacKenzie (White Ash Falls). Extra contributions come from album producer Darcy Hancock and percussionist Ryan Peters, both of Ladyhawk. “If we could find a solid lineup, we’re certainly not against that,” Ewan says of the situation. “But we’ve acknowledged the reality that everyone we’ve played with all have a number of projects on the go. It’s impossible to make five people’s lives line up. If it doesn’t work out, it’s no hard feelings.” Despite the ever-shifting conditions, Passing Shade is Twin River’s most cohesive release to date. While last year’s Should the Light Go Out jumped song to song from banged-up pop-punk, to thistle-chewing folk, to the cloud-soft textures of dream pop, the new album manages to mix these influences together more naturally, often in the same cut. “Hesperus,” another mythology-mining piece, is a jam full of foggy synth and bass sounds, though it hews to the band’s folk roots via the light twang in Ewan’s voice. “Settle Down” and “Natural State” are likewise slathered in echo, but Bishop balances this with some rail-riding lead guitar work. The noisy, though emotionally delicate “I Don’t Want to Be Alone” re-imagines the Jesus and Mary Chain, while “Knife” is a whammy bar-abusing surf cut for the alt-country crowd. “We didn’t sit around and say we want it to be 70 per cent garage, 20 per cent dream rock, 10 per cent folk. It just became what we sounded like,” says Ewan of the Passing Shade’s musical mash-up. Unified throughout the album are lyrics that hint at loneliness, the dissipation of bonds between friends, and the end of romantic relationships. Ewan admits that she wanted to craft a “purposely autobiographical” full-length, but it’s worth noting that her academic career has likewise had her analyzing how people cope with change. “There’s a sociologist named Maurice Halbwachs who did a big study on memory, and he says that whenever there’s a period of political change, people strive to make sure that their own personal legacies are safe. One of the ways it shows itself in Rome, in particular, is that all of a sudden the practice of inscription has this huge boom.” Though Ewan’s lyrics are more personal than political, they nevertheless reflect a shock to the system. Songs like “Hesperus,” “I Don’t Want to Be Alone,” and “Brooklyn Bowl” are all tapping into a sense of abandonment. “Baby” begins positively with a verse in which Ewan praises the way a lover says her name, but ultimately caps with “I hate the way you leave me.” On the flip, “Known to Run” is a song that suggests she is tempted to split when the going gets rough. In the past, she wouldn’t have been as frank about her feelings. “I’m a funny person, I think, because I like to talk and talk and talk, but I have a hard time talking about serious things,” she says. “That’s the same for songwriting. I can pump out a cheesy pop song, no problem. I don’t have trouble putting one line It’s harder for me to talk about things that are real. I wanted to have a record that I could pinpoint to specific memories and times in my life, because this past year I’ve needed those anchors. after the next, because I listen to a lot of pop music and I know what the ‘B’ is that follows the ‘A.’ It’s harder for me to talk about things that are real. I wanted to have a record that I could pinpoint to specific memories and times in my life, because this past year I’ve needed those anchors.” There is a disjointedness to Ewan’s life as she navigates school on one side of the continent, a band on the other, and all sorts of personal relationships in between. Commemorating it all in song has been a grounding experience, though. It would seem that she might not run from her problems after all. “Sometimes I think that would be a lot easier if I had those tendencies in me, because I have a hard time letting things go,” the musician adds. “It would be easier to be like, ‘Ok, I’m out!’ I hope that’s a good quality.” Considering how she and Bishop have managed to keep Twin River flowing, it’s certainly not a bad one to have. Twin River perform on <strong>June</strong> 30 at The Cobalt. May <strong>June</strong> <strong>2016</strong> MUSIC 9