Vulnerable and Surprising: Twin Atlantic’s Separation From The Animals
Words: Sam Drake
There is something incredibly raw about Twin Atlantic’s latest album, Separation From The Animals, where their emotions are laid bare for all to witness in calm, heartfelt guitars and beautifully reflective lyrics. With their eighth studio album, Twin Atlantic take you on an honest and earnest journey through blissful hope and uneasy heartbreak, with a collection of old-school indie rock tunes.
Your, The End opens the album - a sweet and sombre, two minute lullaby addressing Sam McTrusty’s (vocals, rhythm guitar) children. It sets the tone of the next forty-four minutes succinctly, with real, heart-breaking yet optimistic lyrics and a soft piano soundtracking the promise of everything being okay in the end.
In the following track, In Your Eyes, I can’t help but hear the influences of 2006 Muse. The intro is unmistakably inspired by the iconic opening of Starlight, from Muse’s Black Holes and Revelations and it repeats as the heartbeat of the track, underlining the rather real-feeling break-up song. Whilst Starlight is about losing a grip on reality, In Your Eyes is a desperate grasp at the end of a relationship, to understand what has gone wrong. The track encapsulates that wistful, early 2000s, indie rock feeling; aching for something long gone.
Don’t Quit It was a strange departure from the calm of the three tracks before it. It’s one of three more upbeat and dancey tunes on the album, with grimey, old-rock guitars and a catchy chorus that is anthemic. This is where I feel as though the bass of Ross McNae shines on the album, driving the song with a thick bassline that you can stomp your feet to. It’s possibly my favourite off of the album, simply by how surprised I was to hear it upon the first listen. The album was set to be one for a calm afternoon in the lake district and then you’re hit with a dirty, messy night in a dive bar that will provide stories to tell for generations.
Confidant and Supersweetness are also outliers on this album, as the other two upbeat, boppable tracks. And, though they are both great tracks in their own rights, it does feel very strange for SFTA. Like I said, Don’t Quit It was a shock in the first listen-through of the album, as were these two tracks and all three feel very out of place in an album that is sincerely soft and vulnerable.
Though the album itself is cohesive in its lyrical themes and outward honesty, it’s let down by the random interspersing of the high-energy tracks. Not to say those songs don’t deserve to be on the album but they take away from the raw, mellow, early-indie rock vibes of the other tracks. Maybe it would have benefitted from a different track order or maybe they just could have been singles in their own rights to not distract from the tranquility of the album. But it still feels like a Twin Atlantic album. It’s the most vulnerable that they have ever been. And to loyal fans, that is all that matters.
