We first met twen in November of 2019, when they were on the road supporting Welsh retro alternative rockers The Joy Formidable on their most intimate tour in a decade. The Nashville-based (at the time), Boston-bred indie poppers – led by vocalist Jane Fitzsimmons and guitarist Ian Jones — had recently released Awestruck, their debut LP, which I characterized as, “blend[ing] the aesthetics of ‘90s dream pop with the golden age of college rock.” Well, twen are back on the road again, with an upcoming 4/20 date at Johnny Brenda’s alongside local favorites Sixteen Jackies and Number One Lovers, and I recently got a chance to catch up with the equally sweet and snarky Ian Jones over the phone, who tells me that a lot has changed since Fall of 2019: “It feels like a lifetime… Most notably, we’ve written a record and we’ve converted our van into a full-time home.”
Although twen’s sophomore LP doesn’t yet have a release date, the band has released three singles (which I’m not actually positive are on the album) since late last year, “HaHaHome,” “Bore U,” and, most recently, “Dignitary Life.” The songs display the band’s affection for classic pop music, with seeming nods to Britpop. In fact, “HaHaHome” sounds like it could almost be an outtake penned for Definitely Maybe or (What’s the Story) Morning Glory? And when I ask Ian about the new songs, he tells me that that song was actually not intended to be anything special, although it seems to have turned out to be the fan favorite of the three: “We put that one out at the end of the year just to take the temperature, but I thought that was just a scrap, but it ended up getting the best reaction.”
“HaHaHome” and “Bore U” already have official videos, made by the band themselves, although Ian admits it’s a little bit more of Jane’s thing: “Most of that is Jane.” He does, however, emphasize that everything twen puts out comes from the band and their camp, including videos and even merch, which they thrift and dye themselves: “We do everything ourselves and what we can’t do ourselves, we hire our friends… If you see shit from us, we made it ourselves.” And when I ask him what can be expected of their new album, he tells me that it’s both likely not what people may be expecting and that he’s very proud of it.
“There’s nothing about it that’s what the critics were calling shoegaze… But I love it and I know it’s fucking good, really fucking catchy. And it’s real songwriting. There’s a lot of shit songwriting these days.”
*Get your tickets here.
