The Boston bluegrass quartet expands its sound on its third LP with a heady brew of jazz, Americana and indie pop music
via Seven Days
You know, music just doesn’t make people act like assholes like it used to. And honestly, I miss that. Hear me out.
Not so long ago, pop music legitimately scared some people shitless because they thought it would turn kids to drugs, sex and/or Satan. Music was dangerous. Did I like the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC, if you’re nasty) trying to censor all the coolest rock and hip-hop in the ’80s and ’90s? No, of course not. But I miss the hoopla. The hoopla!
In a perfect world, Twisted Pine’s new LP, Love Your Mind, would have folk and bluegrass aficionados bare-knuckle brawling in the street. They’d smash banjos over each other’s skulls in fierce debate about the stylistic joyride that is the Boston band’s third album, like when Dylan went electric or Metallica, uh … cut their hair.
Originally a fairly straightforward bluegrass band, Twisted Pine grew out of the Boston folk scene that centered on the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge. Over the past decade, the quartet has steadily morphed into something altogether different. Its 2020 album Right Now was lauded by outlets such as the Boston Globe, NPR and No Depression for its fusion of contemporary sounds and traditional roots music. Love Your Mind delves deeper still into jazz and swing, indie pop, AM Gold funk, and even a Frank Zappa cover.
The album kicks off with the sun-dappled “Start/Stop,” a pop song where instrumental virtuosity and group vocal heroics work together in beautiful and subtle unison.
On “Goosebump Feeling,” flautist Anh Phung’s silky lead vocals and fiddler Kathleen Parks’ harmonies orbit Dan Bui’s percussive mandolin stabs above the bedrock of Chris Sartori’s bass line. The band turns sharply from that track’s breezy, dance-inducing pop rhythms to the sinewy R&B groove of “Chanel Perfume,” featuring former Boston singer-songwriter Ali McGuirk, who now lives in Burlington. A few songs later is a playful mix of progressive bluegrass and ’60s soul-pop on “Green Flash,” highlighted by a scintillating guest appearance from dobro master Jerry Douglas of Alison Krauss & Union Station.
That Twisted Pine’s sonic-chameleon act is realized through acoustic instruments might be the album’s greatest achievement. Top-notch production from Dan Cardinal at Dimension Sound Studios adds a glossy sheen that lets the soft moments breathe, the hooks (and Parks’ powerful vocals) get big and, even better, adds just the right touch of weird when needed.
Love Your Mind is Frankenstein folk. Once upon a time the villagers might have gone scampering after Twisted Pine with pitchforks and torches for their brazen subversion of genre. But these days, I think the band will be safe and sound as it tours behind the new record. Upcoming gigs include a show at Zenbarn in Waterbury Center this Saturday, October 19, and at the Billsville House Concerts series in Manchester Center on Sunday, October 20.
Love Your Mind will be released on Friday, October 18. Buy it at twisted-pine.bandcamp.com or stream it on all major streaming services.