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Twinlights also continues vocalist Liz Fraser's recent trend toward a less embellished singing style. Considering her assertion that abuse in childhood led her to sing in nonsense syllables, one can only be glad to see her emergence into the realm of the intelligible. Yet Fraser's voice has now lost its most striking asset, an "I'm either verging on a nervous breakdown or about to explode with joy" quality. Her singing on this EP is on a par with the pretty but insipid vocals of the Sundays' Harriet Wheeler -- without the cynical edge of humor that makes Wheeler...
Even the track "Rilkean Heart", with gorgeous vocal harmonies and exquisitely timed instrumental accompaniment, is marred by Fraser's lyrical weaknesses. The song manages to sidestep the bottomless well of self-pity into which most breakup songs plummet, but Fraser still sounds as though she's reading from a self-help book: "I looked for you to give me transcendent experiences... I'm so sorry...
Twinlights' pinnacle is its remake of the obscure "Pink Orange Red." Like 1984's "The Spangle-Maker," their most accessible and popular song to date, "Pink Orange Red" never really resolves. The first minute of the song consists of Fraser's tentative vocals hovering over three muted piano chords. Fragile acoustic finger-picking and the barely audible pulse of synthesized strings are slowly woven in while Fraser's voice soars to subtly cathartic heights. The song ends by spiraling into a minute of vocal trilling that calls to mind the continuous, fluttering fall of autumn leaves...
...just really nice to get it," Fraser said. "I love the band. Everybody there is really...
Saxophonist Mark C. Simon '99 and trumpet player Dionne A. Fraser '99 received the 1995 Malcolm Holmes Band Scholarships at the Dartmouth Football Concert October...