When: 7.30pm on Tuesday 11 February 2020
Where: YES (Basement), 38 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB

We’re delighted to be welcoming Twen back to Manchester – this time, headlining at YES!

What’s a touring band without a record? For the past two years, Twen has been re-defining what a touring band looks like in an age of homogeneous pop crafted for streaming consumption. Born in the Boston DIY scene and then quickly shoving off to Nashville, the psych inspired indie-rock four-piece has not stopped touring since their formation, representing a refreshing antidote in an increasingly digital world. Led by vocalist Jane Fitzsimmons and guitarist Ian Jones, the band have racked up a touring schedule that few groups could muster without the aid of a debut album.

Disregarding music industry order-of-operations, Twen defied the mold through their ‘Twen Live’ cassette release in 2017. Recorded from their first performance (ever) in a Boston basement, the five-song EP is their only recorded music prior to their upcoming release. Awestruck, their debut album (out via Frenchkiss Records), is a time capsule of their music on and off the road, two years in the making. Recorded at different times and locations, each song builds upon the next, starting with the title track, the first song ever written between the two; bookended with Horseblood, the slow burning haunt with a vocal maturity and complexity only harnessed through experience. Often referencing time itself, like the top-heavy rock anthem Long Time, time stretches throughout the record, and leaves you wanting more.

Though unabashedly indie rock, their songs genre-bend from shoe-gaze-sized walls of sound to Beatle-esque call-and-response vocal harmonies. While on Baptism, Jones’ delicate finger-picking patterns ring through fuzz and distortion, combining folk roots with in-your-face rock; Fitzsimmons’ voice weaves through guitar lines with Cocteau Twin’s inspired flair, giving breath of ethereal mysticism across the album. In Honey Smacks, the often fragmented and stream-of-consciousness lyrics are intensified by countless infectious melodies that are as timeless as they are simple.

Local support comes from Chew Magna. Last year, something stirred over Salford. A popic beast set free from sonic slumber, Learning How To Swim seemingly surfaced from nowhere. Little was known about the song’s origins; it could easily have been unearthed as a 90s west-coast, indie-rock artefact. Rumours began to circulate and whispers of the name ‘Chew Magna’ worked their way around the city. Apparently, a few well-known faces from Manchester’s dynamic underground music scene had come together to create a melodic commotion which could be heard bleeding into the still night air around Strangeways.

It was just the start of things to come; the advocates of noise and self-confessed ‘jam band’ were simply territory-marking whilst concocting their blistering debut EP, The White Hotel. Recorded in Salford’s own The White Hotel with Magna members Simon and Laurie plus drummer Ben and bassist Joel, the band’s sound ricochets off the painted brickwork of the former auto-repairs workshop with decibel-destroying fuzz. Chew Magna may doff their DMs to Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Smashing Pumpkins and Pavement, yet never stray from being as entirely and originally on-point as Protomartyr, Ought and Parquet Courts – even though the band will freely admit to an occasional dunk of their sleeves in the sound of their idols. “Preserve The Servants is a pun on the Nirvana song and love letter to Kurt Cobain,’ offers Laurie. ‘The riff and melody are SO Nirvana I thought let’s write it about Kurt, in heaven, playing poker with Sinatra, chess with Kafka and eating lunch with Sartre!’

Buy tickets now. Tickets are available from Vinyl Exchange, WeGotTickets.com, Ticketline.co.uk and on 0871 220 0260.

Attend on: Facebook