Twin Forks

A few months ago I was sitting next to my colleague driving home from a customer. He was driving and Radio2 was on. This song came along and that voice, I recognized it from somewhere. It sounded like Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional but they never get played on Dutch radio nor did they have a new album out. Coming home I totally forgot to check it out. Until earlier this week when the same song was played on 3FM. This time I checked the name of the band and googled it. It was Twin Forks and yes Chris Carrabbe is in it.

Twin Forks is his new band. According to the bio on their website Chris wanted to form a band with a classic folk, country and roots sound. This new band does not mean his other bands, Dashboard Confessional and Further seems Forever, are now defunct. They’re just on hiatus.

The song in question is “Cross my mind”. It’s gaining some fair airplay in the Netherlands and likely in other countries as well. Watch the official video here.

It’s a very catchy song that will get stuck in your head. The DJ’s on the radio already branded it the sound of the summer and I think they quite hit the spot with that remark. The song screams summer and summer romance.

The rest of the album is what you expect from this style of music. Some up-tempo catchy songs, some mid-tempo songs. And to finish it off a great ballad of the kind Dashboard Confessional gained their reputation with before evolving into a more pop/indy-rock band. No distracting drums, no distracting electric guitars, just Chris’ vocals and a acoustic guitar to provide support and brilliant backup vocals by the bands mandolin player Suzie Zeldin.

Zeldin’s vocals and mandolin are a great addition to the band. On the opening track “Can’t be broken” her voice works very well in harmony with Carrebba’s Voice. The mandolin on “Cross my mind” really stands out. The melody is one of the things making the song so good.
She could have gotten more lines of her own on “Kiss me darling” however. The song feels like a conversation between two lovers. He just has more to say than her apparently. A loss for us the listeners.

So should you get this album right away? Well that’s for you to decide. If you’re not into the current folk hype or already fed up with it, it’s better to steer clear of this one but I’d recommend you to at least listen to it on Spotify before shooting it down. If you are a big fan of Chris Carrabbe’s previous work like me you will love this one as well.
Chris Carrabbe is, in my opinion, one of the best singer-songwriters of the moment. His work, especially the early releases, are among the best I’ve heard the last decade. So if you share this opinion this one is for you.
Having that said, to be fair this isn’t an instant classic. I liked it, I loved it but wasn’t blown away by it. It’s not. It does not rank up to the first two Dashboard Confessional releases (“The Swiss Army Romance” & “The places you have come to fear the most) but it’s close to share 3th with the MTV Unplugged album.

Note: When buying the album be sure to get the album and not the EP by the same name.

Down below you can listen to the full album on Spotify or buy the album on iTunes or from Amazon or from Large.