Described as a ‘mutant-pop project’, TWINS is the synth-driven alias of Atlantan producer and label operator Matt Weiner who runs CGI Records and co-runs the DKA imprint. Having spent the best part of a decade making moody synth-pop with Featureless Ghost, the past two years Weiner has been working on countless of studio sessions putting together an album. Released earlier this motnh, ‘That Which Is Not Said’ is body of work about learning ‘to accept oneself within and accept the reality of all that comes from without’. Recorded in an improvised way, each production channels a mood or feeling that was presence when whatever machine was plugged in at the time, filling the work with experimentation and spontaneity. With this process in mind, we asked TWINS to tell us about 8 things that have influenced his career and sound over the years, from music, film and TV.
1. Liaisons Dangereuses – Peut Etre…Pas
Besides just being one of the best tracks ever cut to tape the vocals on “Glass Breaks Glass” owes a lot to the very upfront, sort of “gated” delivery of Chrislo Haas’s vocal style, though most people have compared it to Suicide which I guess makes sense since Alan Vega and I both have family roots from Jewish New York.
2. Depeche Mode – Music For the Masses (the whole album)
Still one of the most compelling albums on relationships and their infinite complexities, not to mention Dave Gahan’s delivery is so on point and the songwriting and production is superb.
3. Playing in my duo Pyramid Club (with DKA-co-founder Chris Daresta) and
4. our mini-tour with Drab Majesty last year:
Working with Chris is consistently inspiring as he puts together tracks in ways that are fresh and exciting and that I know I would never have thought of myself. Getting to take these songs on the road for 5 dates with Drab Majesty was really inspiring too, to see how the crowd would react to our more heavy and open ended style vs Drab’s ultra-direct and delicate live demonstration and I feel I was able to borrow from these approaches and meet somewhere in the middle for my solo work.
5. RuPaul’s Drag Race:
I’ve been performing live both solo and in bands for 10+ years and have never once had any coaching in it or studied the art of “performance” in any real sense of the term but watching the ways the judges critique the queens on the show was extremely eye opening and enlightening for me as a performer and gave me lots to think about in terms of how I present myself to audiences.
6. Kommunity FK – “unknown to you”:
Always a sucker for a simple-yet-powerful, driving-yet-melancholic baseline and soaring vocals, propulsive percussion that fills in all the right spots and is all punctuated by occasional chords, this is a style I’m very much influenced by weather it’s done with a traditional rock band set up or whatever other instruments / electronics are around.
7. Opera Multi Steel – “Un Froid Seul”
Besides the fact that it translates to “a cold alone”, which is a concept I can deeply relate to, it’s one of the best songs ever made imo and directly influenced one of the tracks on the bonus 7” (though not sure how obvious it is or not to an outsider), but I can’t recommend the entire ‘Cathedral’ LP enough.
8. The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman (1957)
Besides being one of the most visually compelling films I can think of, the general themes of seeking comfort in one’s faith (when in reality there can be no comfort from such things) and trying to fulfill an otherwise futile existence by commiting a meaningful deed hits me deep and informs a lot of what I end up writing about, on a subconscious level.
‘That Which Is Not Said’ by TWINS is out now on 2MR – buy here