EMMALINE TWIST – “DISSIMULATION” ALBUM REVIEW on I HEART LOCAL MUSIC

ALBUM REVIEW: EMMALINE TWIST – “DISSIMULATION”
NATHAN CARDIFF — SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Summertime blues got you down? Tired of heat waves? Sick of the sunshine? Take Dissimulation for a spin. Brooding shoegazers Emmaline Twist cool things off with eight stunners on their new record. Play them in the darkest room possible for full effect. Opener “Desperate Measures” sounds like the perfect soundtrack to an apocalyptic road trip. “I ain’t got time for promises unkept/Got a job to do, my measures are desperate” sings Meredith McGrade to set the mood perfectly. Things get a little bouncier on “The Call” with a sinister guitar creeping in and out at just the right moments. The aggression turns up on “Battle Flag” with McGrade punctuating every word making them all menacing (“My words become like fists, when swung”) and “Catch Like Fire” places them as the house band at a nightmare dance with just the hint of doomed romance (and a surf guitar that took me completely by surprise).

The b-side of Dissimulation lightens things up (musically speaking) with “Almost Blue” and “Starcrossed” (bringing that night surfing vibe back) before drifting back into the heavy dream pop of “The Golden Hour. This juxtaposition creates a great, dizzying feeling which is perfect for hypnotic closer “Oblivion.” We can all just spin into the darkness as the band sinks further and further with us.

Favorite Tracks: “Catch Like Fire,” “The Golden Hour,” & “Oblivion”

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