Melbourne foursome Twerps are coming out with a new album, Range Anxiety, on Merge Records on January 27 in the US and February 3 in Europe. There’s a single out already, “Back to You,” with a video directed by Johann Rashid. Formed back in 2008, they’ve worked out a warm sound, filled with longing-laced lyrics pinned against a deceptively bright soundscape of jangly guitars and steady rhythms. The new album wants you to travel beyond the surface of things, and it’s there that the songs sweep you into a world that’s both comfortable and strange. It’s extremely enticing, and it seems pretty certain that this album will see Twerps’ already wide appeal expanding even further. The band are touring the States this spring and making their third trip to SXSW, and Northern Transmissions was able to catch up with Twerps before they start touring Australia. Alice Severin spoke with Julia McFarlane about the new album and the delicate balance of creating with four musicians.
Like the feeling of the band is different to all of those adjectives. Do you know what I mean? I know, like texturally it does make sense. And I suppose a lot of people listen to music and they are doing it in a very kind of sensory way, or like a physical way. But it doesn’t feel like that to me. That’s not the feeling of the band that I get. I just feel like it’s more like kind of sad, or brooding. There’s definitely a lot of jangly moments, I’ll let that happen. But in combination, all of the adjectives used – I think a lot of people just recycle stuff they read in other reviews, and that’s like – there’s a reason for that, I’m sure.