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OCTOBER 17, 2007
Twilighter
Fixed
(self-released)
BY GRAYSON CURRIN
Listen!
When the 13 tracks of
Fixed, the
second full-length from Chapel Hill's
Twilighter, tick to a close, the only
thing that really matters is the
pungent, bitter aftertaste of the last two
takes: The couplet starts with "Coffee &
Pills," which builds in five minutes from
a solo somnambulant bassline to dual
guitar solos where strings act like
flints, setting sparks that send frontman
Brandon Herndon's chemical ways into
flames. For the first minute, a thin
guitar chases the melody, a simple
rhythm cautiously cantering as
Herndon serves his own dejection
notice: "Coffees and pills and lovers,
tea and drugs/ pass the time/ But the
bad shit never leaves/ in the
morning." The second verse repeats
the first, except when it's over this
time, things get nasty. After verse one, the chorus simply steers to verse two. Here, it
takes a hard left, veering from the road and letting the guitar solos—glimpses of feedback
and fistfuls of scraped strings—incinerate.
Herndon appropriately checks out for most of the closing track, "Pick Up." Sonar Strange's
cold, distant voice bears equal touches country and goth, and—over a simple, chorded
electric guitar—she takes the lead here, singing about a scene that surrounds her cracking
from within: "I keep my headphones on/ Try to forget about it/ The underground caving
in/ On the band houses."
These two tracks shape what since has become the swan song for the incarnation of
Twilighter that recorded
Fixed. Only founder Herndon and bassist Josh Sokal remain in
the new band (now a quartet with Dave Perry and Tony T. Raver), but
Fixed exceeds in
taking the thematically curious band that debuted for 2004's
Fortune Is On and forming an
alloy with confidence. On
Fixed, Twilighter becomes a rock band pairing Sonic Youth and
The Violent Femmes on "It Can't Stay This Way," perfecting nervy Television pacing on
"Being There," and flaunting
Loaded Velvet Underground in Herndon's most quixotic,
flippant vocal passes. Twilighter is playful and solemn, slipshod and tight. Too bad they
couldn't stay together: At least Herndon, who
sounds like a stronger bandleader here, still
continues.
Twilighter plays Hell Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 9 p.m.
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Independent Weekly: Music: Record Review: Twilighter http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A1...
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