There is a certain suburban charm to RESULTS, Ellery Twining’s latest full-length studio release. It might be the lyrical intricacies, so detailed you can often see the stories as they unfurl in front of you, or it might be the skeletal-sounding mixes that often buzz with mundane textures, neatly arranged into nuanced mosaic-like scenes. Anyhow, RESULTS is a follow-up to a successful debut that shows that Ellery Twinings is a capable writer of songs with a vision that he meticulously executes.
On RESULTS, Ellery, a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from the city of Mystic, Connecticut, is taking the character of a generation X kid somewhere in American suburbia, sharing stories led by his character, his character’s brother, and their family and home lives. Charming and simple, Twinings’s peculiar songwriting is neatly aligned with his descriptive lyrics that can often sound bizarrely private, and told in an almost spoken fashion, there’s something adorably unnerving about the album’s storytelling techniques.
The lyrics don’t take the spotlight from the music though, even if it might be the heavier side of the balance of RESULTS. Most of the album’s compositions are intricate and non-linear, and the usage of barebones guitar, bass, and even drum sounds, a mystique is spun around most of the songs on RESULTS that make them easy to reminisce over, remembering our childhoods and stories from our own homes.
Among the album’s standouts are the outstanding starter ‘SIXTH OF JANUARY’. An apt introduction to the sound of the album’s, on a few steroids. The song introduces us to the jangly beats and Twinings distinctive performance style. With deep lyrical content about patriotism and national crisis, and an open sound to the bass and the sparkling guitars, ‘SIXTH OF JANUARY’ is a memorable, rich introduction, even if it is not as musically direct and accessible as most other offerings on the album. One more sublime offering is ‘DUSTY SPRINGFIELD’S RECORD COLLECTION’. Musical, groovy, and inviting, this cut retells parts of the story of the titular star’s life, one of the 60s most easily recognizable voices. The lyrics, which showcase the stark contrast between lifestyles now and then, are imaginative and confrontational. The open-ended music has a pull to it, thanks to the simplistic composition and mix.
‘DEAFENING’ is another stunner that sounds trippy with its phased guitars and reverb-laden atmospheres. More personal memories pouring from Twinings mouth, this time describes an incident of parental abuse, are almost surreal to listen to with such a dreamy backing. ‘S. B. BUTLER’ is a spacey affair that’s loaded with a throbbing, alien guitar texture, pit against some of the album’s most serene rhythm strums, creating a contrast that’s a total sensory pleasure. ‘WHAT’S GONNA SET YOU FREE’ is another acoustic stunner with a sloppy, sleepy groove and a post-pop sound that is straight out of the nineties. The unfamiliar chord voicings also play a major role in amplifying the alien, breezy sound on most of the album’s songs.
Talented at creating lush soundscapes, whether it be by word or by music, Ellery Twining successfully weaves together another endlessly special album of personal songs that all sound equally loved and calculated, with each showcasing a different lyrical approach that pours into the familiar pot of family drama. From throbbing guitars to wailing string arrangements, Twining shines musically just as much as lyrically, bringing forth one exceedingly crisp offering of post-pop.
