I think over my last 200+ reviews for Start-Track, I’ve bounced between excoriating the world as a black sphere of pain and misery and celebrating humanity’s spirit and drive to come together and create beauty. Therefore, my opinion averages out to this: The world is fine. Sometimes you fall in love, sometimes you get cut off in traffic, and sometimes you make some delightfully loud music about it all.
This ethos forms the crux of Levitate, the debut EP from Phoenix’s own new riot grrrl act Silverface Twin (named, I assume, after the classic Fender amp). The band is Sophia (vocals/lyrics), Nick (guitar/lyrics), James (bass), and Zac (drums), all friends and accomplished musicians in their own right who have combined their forces to compose and release an absolute sonic onslaught of a record. From beginning to end, the quality and cohesion of the EP impressed and entranced me, taking me on a musical journey that caused me to forget that it was only 20 minutes long.
Levitate covers all sorts of emotional ground, from love and romance to frustration with the world to outright rage. It begins with the title track, a song Nick wrote about falling in love with Sophia. Yes, surprise: Those two have been in a relationship for eight years and just got engaged this past summer! Let’s all wish a hearty mazel tov to them both. On “Levitate”, Nick writes – and Sophia sings – about the power of love causing a floaty feeling in those with even the heaviest of hearts, helping those who feel too stuck to the ground to learn what it’s like to fly. The track is neither tender nor wistful, like something Taylor might pen: It sounds closer to Hayley Williams in terms of style, if you want to attach a popular artist to the style. But regardless, “Levitate” is loud and unabashed in its celebration of love, and it gets the heart pumping as fast as someone falling head over heels for the person of their dreams.
With the ode to romance out of the way, the band launches into a medley of grievances, starting with “Fix Your Hearts Or Die”, which takes its title from David Lynch’s famous words. Those familiar with the line know that Lynch says them in Twin Peaks: The Return as Deputy Director Gordon Cole, in defense of his Chief of Staff Denise Bryson against her transphobic colleagues. Silverface Twin channels this energy into their track, as Sophia rails against those who pass judgement or bigotry yet claim piety and righteousness. They see the evil lurking in those who sneer: “I can taste your disease / And on Judgement Day, better pray / That your god will keep the bloodsuckers at bay.” It’s a headbanger for sure; one might even call it a war cry.
(BTW: We covered this track back in April! Check out our review of “Fix Your Hearts Or Die” and the non-EP single “Hazelgaze” here.)
In a similar vein, “Colorblind” takes on some shoegaze elements on top of the band’s straightforward alt sound – synths and a krautrock beat – to fight for a little vibrancy in a world that threatens to shut it out. It rallies against the systems that would rather snuff out diversity, joy, and expression, choosing depression for the sake of capital and power over the ability of humanity to create wonder. Systems like this can weigh on the heart and threaten to crush dreams, as Sophia sings: “I’m slipping through an endless night, and blinded by eternal bright / No more dreams in black and white, please heal my soul and cut the light.”
Speaking of the destructive power of capital, “Thank You For Destroying The Earth” is an open letter to oligarchs in charge of massive corporations sucking up resources for their own vapid whims. The song sprang from a Tesla cutting Nick off in traffic one day, and he spun it into a greater work of sarcasm against not only Musk’s company but other “titans of industry” such as Amazon, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Nestle, and so on. (Think of any giant corporation: This song sinks its claws into all of them.) But instead of a direct lyrical attack, Nick twists the words of the song to placate the big egos of these economic overlords: “Sacrifices must be made, pull the great big window shade / The photographs won’t be displayed / But hey, for what it’s worth / I’d like to thank everybody for the part that they played.” Just like the Tesla that cut Nick off in traffic, Nick’s lyrics cut into the greed of the uber-wealthy, chastising them for their false generosity when they’re only looking out for themselves, even in the face of total annihilation: “Your bomb shelter’s so pretty; how many more spots have you got?”
The last track, “Let Me Out”, is one final racing anthem to freedom and against repression, with every member of the band giving their all. Sophia’s voice takes on a feral growl, Nick’s guitar ranges from an Edge-like shimmer to a Cobain-like rabid distortion, James’s bass lines explore the full fretboard and channel the low rumble of yearning, and Zac’s drums shatter the windows, crumble the walls of the cage, and let Silverface Twin’s beautiful noise free. “Let Me Out” acts as an opposing force to “Levitate”: Sophia sang of new love on the opening track, but here she lashes out against a romance turned sour, one that ultimately ended to give way to another beginning. In the chorus and at the ending, she yells the definitive gut-punch: “You’re not giving me what I need now!”
Levitate is an EP about finding what fills that need, whether it’s love or making loud music with friends, or railing against destructive forces that would rather rip the world apart instead of working to fix themselves. It’s a straightforward, powerful work of alt-rock which introduces us to bright new voices on the scene. Silverface Twin doesn’t think the world is a bad place, but they don’t think it’s a good place either. As I mentioned before, I align with that sentiment. Sometimes, all you can do about the world is sing about it, preferably in good company.
Take a listen to “Colorblind” from Levitate below.
Written by Will Sisskind
