A little while ago, that 80′s sound-monger Twin Shadow (a.k.a George Lewis Jr.) had his doozy of a hit Old Love/New Love featured on the soundtrack to GTA V. It was a brilliant dig at the retro genre, mixing uplifting vocal melodies with what seemed like quite a bleak sentiment. In his latest track, To The Top, we see him heading on the up and up in comfort, wrapped in exactly the type of style he knows how to nail best. The anthem.
To The Top takes its strokes from the kind of songs you used to hear at the end of college movies in the 80′s and early 90′s when they were all coming out after final exams fist pumping and high-fiving each other. Perhaps the most exciting part of Twin Shadows new efforts is in the consistency. He seems to have found that sweet spot in a genre that is purely and genuinely his to dominate, whilst coming out swinging in a way that avoids the “hit and miss” effect he had on the last album.
The only off-putting part about this track (there HAD to be one, it’s Twin Shadow) is the weird placed timing in one of the final choruses. He attempts to disjoint it a little by letting his vocals trail the beat we’ve become accustomed to the entire song – and I get that it might be cool from a musicians perspective, you know, breaking outside the aesthetics of our traditional beliefs of what a song should be – but it doesn’t do anything except bug me a little, sounding distracting and off.
That, however, is a very minute vice in what is largely a crazy good anthem packed full of virtue. Currently sitting at #2 on Spotify’s “Viral 50″, check out To The Top below. Do you think his next album will be able to top the last?