Critic's evaluation
Since 2016 when they officially launched themselves into the global music market with Stranded Downtown, their debut album, the Coimbrão power trio The Twist Connection released a series of singles and another compact until the arrival of their new full-length. Entitled Is That Real? the record follows on from the self-titled work.
The wind howls amidst the inhospitable environment. Dust rises and falls to the ground while silence becomes a comforting companion amidst the insecurity of solitude. This atmosphere of suspense is what guides the introduction of the title track, a song driven by a meek and minimalist drums, a distorted guitar in its provocative riff and a bass that, under the dominion of Sérgio Cardoso, acts as a melodic guide of cynical, self-confident and restless posture. When a voice of intermediate timbre and with bass strokes comes on the scene through Carlos Mendes, the dense and investigative atmosphere gains more palpable contours. Growing to a rhythm that mixes indie rock with folk and hints of hard rock, the title track is a material that talks about destiny, about the future. Perseverance and self-confidence in mastering life are other important points highlighted in the construction of the song, which communicates a mixture of influences that transits between The Doors and The Smiths while gaining a harmonic and psychedelic amplitude with the entrance of Francisco Dias Pereira's undulating and hypnotic organ.
A contagious rhythm that mixes elements of indie with pop punk immerses us in the first sounds of a new scenario. Having in Mendes' drums the ingredient that imprints the melodic cadence, the song continues with a menu that offers the listener suspense and chills mainly by the way Mendes interprets the lyricism, a way that brings out the influence of Dave Byrne and even Mick Jagger. Raw, You Must Go Now brings a drunken atmosphere that revels in the fact that everyone has secrets and enigmas that need to be kept quiet, but which come into conflict when in the company of an outspoken and outspoken personality who can ruin all the care in keeping certain information locked away in memory.
The indie rock fused between The Killers and The Black Keys that so marks The Twist Connection's sound returns with maturity on Bring Me The Storm thanks mainly to the way Samuel Silva's guitar pronounces itself. As the song grows in presence, a high-pitched, female voice is perceived accompanying Mendes. She is owned by Raquel Ralha, who gives an interesting counterpoint to the icy, nauseating timbre of the vocalist. Dirty and with embryonic touches of stoner, Bring Me The Storm follows a character tired of a paralyzed and socially numb state before the moments that precede change and wants to see the transformation happening right away. It is like an outburst that, between the lines, criticizes the common sense and the conformity in feeling accommodated in the comfort zone, a behavior that doesn't have the guts or even the will to change simple details of everyday life.
With a simple resemblance to the sound of Fortune Faded, Red Hot Chilli Peppers' single, the introduction brings the guitar to the forefront while the drums draw a malleable and spiky base. It is then that a duo introduces, in unison, howls that roam the melodic surface. Surprisingly, after this suddenness, who presents herself as dominant in the lyrical field is Raquel, who here gives the listener the possibility to taste her characteristics more easily. With a similar timbre to Giovanna Moraes, she embodies a rock and roll posture that brings Joan Jett and Courtney Love references. No wonder that One Shot has, when matured, a melody that communicates influences from The Runnaways. It is on this ground that the song highlights its romantic plot, featuring a character in search of romance, but who doesn't give it two chances.
More introspective than the others, but still with swing and contagion, the song brings again the bass lines in a striking way in the melodic base and the guitar working as an important calling card, even if in a subtle way. Of present, but almost imperceptible influence of Chuck Berry, Fake is, like Bring Me The Storm, a song of socio-analytical nature that criticizes a behavior based on lies, falsehoods and insecurity, which makes it need attention for a long time. Still, Fake brings a curiously cheerful melody during the chorus that bears similarities to the melody of Happy Together, single by The Turtles.
Provocative and with hints of swing thanks to the use of cowbell and tambourine, Trapped & Tired already shows itself to be the most ripped song on Is That Real? mainly because of the overlapping guitars. Like One Shot, the track brings Raquel in the lyrical protagonism that brings the duality of freedom and prison. The desire to see herself loose, light and free on a highway conflicts with the reality of feeling trapped and chained to a relationship or to some kind of memory. It is a song that exhorts tiredness, but also works as a kind of cry for help to regain a sense of independence that can lead to freedom.
The drums are the ones that pull the introductory melody with hits that are divided between the stridency of the snare drum and the hollowness of the bass drum. Bringing their folk-tinged indie, The Twist Connection again offers the listener the format of sudden duets between Mendes and Raquel that worked so well on Bring Me The Storm. With melodic similarities to Kiss single Strutter, Won't Make Me Fall seems to narrate a mixture of guilt and remorse with the anger at being disappointed in a one-sided relationship.
Guitar and drums are divided in the creation of an energetic and slightly swinging melody. With Raquel at the helm of the microphone accompanied by a full-bodied bass and drums bouncing on the more minimalist sounding verse, Stuck In Quicksand is a song that, interestingly enough, works as a continuation of Bring Me The Storm by bringing the description of someone settled under the metaphor of, as the name of the song suggests, stuck in quicksand. At the same time, the song also tries, with a controlled desperation, to stimulate the listener to listen to his inner cry to get his emotions out and achieve his goals.
Like Trapped & Tired, Dust Devil is another important track in the repertoire of Is That Real? Smooth and swinging, the track brings in strong hints of hard rock as it talks about controlling urges while metaphorizing political acts as haunting movements. It is almost like a representation of the general feeling of incredulity towards current events.
Despite coming from the colonizing country, the colony knows little of the names that make up Portugal's musical team. However, what The Twist Connection brought in Is That Real? was a material full of swing, lightness and roughness in a balanced recipe even in the combination of vocal timbres.
With an evident sound signature that sells itself as a kind of folk indie rock, the album's melodies also bring hard rock and pop punk as guides. Among its nine tracks, the album showed maturity, synchronicity, and even linearity in the face of its lyrical plots.
Dealing with self-confidence, the thirst for transformation, relationships, and even social criticism that permeates the behavioral fields of falsehood and self-indulgence, Is That Real? presents Raquel Ralha as a kind of fourth element that helps in the propagation of certain messages. Here it is worth mentioning the tracks One Shot and Stuck In Quicksand.
Full of influences ranging from Chuck Berry to The Killers, The Twist Connection had the help of names like Francisco Dias Pereira and Boz Boorer in the mixing and production of the tracks, which enabled an authentic sound that shows much of the musical essence of the trio from Coimbra.
Closing the technical context of Is That Real? comes the cover art. Made between Sérgio Cardoso and Bruno Pìres, it brings an aesthetic that mixes baroque and renaissance by using the contrast between light and shadow that adorns the three members. At the same time, a red stain that surrounds the name of the album and the band seems in the process of spreading across the stage as if it were coming to life and communicating a certain tone of growing excitement.
Released on 03/27/2020 in an independent way, Is That Real? is an indie folk album marked by swinging, infectious melodies. It is a work that shows that The Twist Connection has the will and the capacity to be both known and recognized beyond the Portuguese borders.
