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Meet Slim Twig: He’s been compared to Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Scott Walker, David Bowie, even Elvis
11.17.2014
06:56 pm
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Although I’m fairly firmly of the opinion that no man under the age of 40 should sport facial hair—a beard is earned, a reward for getting old, a mask for covering the years up, even—I didn’t let that sour me on Slim Twig. He’s got too much talent for that.

Slim Twig is the stage name of Toronto-born actor/musician Max Turnbull. He’s been putting out scads of under-the-radar releases since 2005. In September, DFA Records re-released his 2012 album A Hound at the Hem and it’s very fucking good.

Mind you, there’s a difference between “very fucking good” and great, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want young Mr. Twig to get a big head. He seems destined for greatness, though, I’ll give him that. A Hound At The Hem, which was recorded in 2010 and first put out independently before this new DFA Records release, is an album that should be heard. I haven’t heard an album this strong by a new artist since… since a long time ago.

The press release describes A Hound At The Hem as a concept album loosely inspired by Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and as “an echo-like response to Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Claude Vannier’s Histoire de Melody Nelson.”

It takes balls to claim—or even imply—something like that!

He’s also been compared in print to Nick Cave, Lou Reed, Suicide and David Bowie.

Not to mention Scott Walker by The Quietus:

“. . . a wholly satisfactory solution for those [Scott] Walker fans who find themselves torn between the full-bodied melodrama of his earliest solo work and the often impenetrable soundscapes of the post-Climate Of Hunter years. It’s this balance of accessibility and experimentation that makes Hound - and indeed Twig himself - such an intriguing prospect. For every chunk of Zombies-esque pop-psych riffage, there’s a muffled hip-hop beat buried deep in the mix; for every elegant orchestral flourish, there’s a vocal that sounds like it’s been dubbed in Lee Perry’s echo chamber.”

Even the King of rock and roll:

“[Slim Twig’s music is]...what might happen if you left a bunch of Elvis Presley LPs on a radiator, smashed them to bits with a hammer and re-assembled them for play on a turntable. In a word, otherworldly.”

Considering his age—he’s 26—Slim Twig’s got plenty of room to grow as an artist, but still, if you’re going to be compared to anyone, I reckon he’s in pretty good company with the aforementioned. I’d add Iggy Pop, John Lennon and Harry Nilsson to the list for this one, the insanely catchy single “All This Wanting.” I played this song once and couldn’t get it out of my head for the entire weekend. It’s been on repeat around here at the Dangerous Minds office:
 

 
More from Slim Twig after the jump…

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Posted by Richard Metzger
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11.17.2014
06:56 pm
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