Review Summary: Your daily dose of "Screw you!"
Like the best of records, “Sunken” came to me when I was in a very vulnerable period of my life. Left emotionally unstable by a pretty traumatic experience, I downloaded Twin Peak’s debut in the hopes that hearing some new music could calm my troubled soul. After scarcely previewing their latest single, I made the assumption that they were merely some harmless, light-hearted indie garage band desperate for a few spins on the local radio.
Needless to say, my assumption was dead wrong.
Opening track “Baby Blue”, with its gorgeous vocal harmonies and surprising musical depth despite its brief duration and simple lyrics, serves as a suitable summary of the album: regrettably short, but deeply addicting. There is a real, undeniable sadness that permeates the record despite its fiercely punk-rock attitude, fueled by some excellent shoegaze-y guitar work; stand-out track “Natural Villain” capitalizes on the effortless mix of self-righteous ire and dreamy melancholy. Elsewhere, some light psychedelic touches on the lovely “Irene” add greatly to the sorrowful vibe that seeps from every note.
With all its emotional resonance, however, “Sunken” isn’t just a wispy, experimental new-wave ambient-fest. Instead, it contains some of the most surprisingly authentic rock’n’roll I’ve heard in a long time. Sitting smack-dab in the middle of the record, and clocking in at just under a minute-and-a-half, “Out of Commission” in particular is a meaty slab of punk rock that seems to have arrived fresh from London circa 1976. The remaining tracks, while bearing a fairly poppy indie-rock sound (landing somewhere between the
Neon Trees and
The Strokes), don’t trade any intensity away for the sake of accessibility; in reality, the music here is very raw and doesn’t shy away from imperfection. The lyrics, while occasionally nonsensical, really carry an air of anger and confusion, finally climaxing in penultimate track “Boomers”, a song that suffers from serious multiple-personality disorder as it shifts uncontrollably back and forth from being a somber ballad to a raging ball of fury.
In contrast to their finely polished single “Flavor” (which was included on my download but is actually from "Wild Onion"), “Sunken” carries a decidedly lo-fi sound to it which I initially found rather grating to my audiophiliac ears. This serves as the album’s only real downfall, as other listeners unaccustomed to the piercing wail of the electric guitar may be turned away.
“Sunken” is an amalgamation of all kinds of contradictions: carefree, yet melancholy; light-hearted and fun, yet harsh and raw. Perhaps it was this element to the music that appealed to my conflicting emotions at the time I first listened to it. I found myself connecting to the singer’s lashing out in desperation, and empowered by his callous rejection of pain. In truth, “Sunken” is a much deeper and more personal record than its goofy album art and upbeat, catchy exterior let on. It’s a generous dose of “Screw you!” wrapped up in an expertly crafted musical package, not even to mention that its barely 20-minute running time makes it oh-so-easy to perpetually repeat – and perpetually repeat it I did.
