Lonely Twin

by Jordan Geiger, Hospital Ships

Overview

When "Love or Death" kicks off Lonely Twin with a combination of piano, high vocals, and the general air of just-post-last-Beatles stateliness -- perhaps with a flicker of where the Move and ELO would eventually take that impulse -- the feeling is that Hospital Ships, centered around singer/songwriter Jordan Geiger, are at the logical end point of intersecting curves of nostalgic re-creation. On the one hand there's enough "proper" tunefulness to satisfy those who loved XTC and Jellyfish -- and perhaps most especially the Flaming Lips from The Soft Bulletin forward -- while on the other, there are enough squawks, fuzz, and zoning to sound like it's emerged a bit from the 21st century cassette underbrush. It generally leans toward the former, though, and with that as a start, Lonely Twin takes a sweetly woozy way through its length, at once enjoyable enough while still feeling like a recapitulation more than a way forward. Still, even with that caveat, it's pleasant enough listening, with the scragglier numbers like "Little Dead Leaf," distortion, and crumbling drum hits set against delicate keyboard tones and singing, working best as a mixing of relative extremes. The drumless, string-touched ballad "Bird in Furs" is the first of several similar pieces throughout the album like "Phantom Limb." Meanwhile, "Carry On" -- with its steady, early drum machine-styled punch and understated end-of-the-night singalong turning into a lighter-waving grind guitar, without changing its overall pace and feeling -- comes across as Geiger's high point on the album, a balancing of performance, arrangement, and tension that works in a lovely fashion. ~ Ned Raggett

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2011
Label:	Graveface Records
UPC:	0643157416470
Rank:	160596

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Hospital Ships   Primary Artist
Jordan Geiger   Primary Artist,Vocals
Thor Harris   Drums
Travis Nelsen   Drums
Jonathan Meiburg   Vocals,Organ (Hammond)
Lucas Oswald   Cello,Drums,Piano,Vocals,Percussion,Piano (Electric)
Nick Christus   Drums
Katlyn Conroy   Vocals
Josh Adams   Drums
Brian Phillips   Fuzz Bass,Bass
Kim Burke   Percussion
Kate Adams   Cello

Technical Credits

Jordan Geiger   Engineer
Thor Harris   Screams
John Congleton   Mixing,Engineer
Lucas Oswald   Engineer
Nick Christus   Design
Michael Krueger   Artwork
Mark Sanders   Engineer
Rob Halverson   Engineer
Jason Lips   Artwork