Twin Peaks’ latest album was my soundtrack on the day that I got lost in the streets of London and ended up walking aimlessly for an hour.
Typically, getting lost makes me panic. I usually take out Google Maps and frantically put in an address that I know to get myself back on track.
On that particular day, I ignored the urge to whip out my phone and plug in the address of my dorm. Actually, I don’t even think I had the urge at all.
“Sweet ’17 Singles” played loudly through my headphones as I took in the setting of a busy street I had never seen before, and I was weirdly at peace.
I made a mental note to mention in my article about this album that it made me feel calm and safe, which is something that I tend to find with Twin Peaks albums – though they’re much different live.
When I saw Twin Peaks live, their energy was incredible and more than I could have ever imagined by just listening to an album on Spotify.
In fact, when the Chicago-based five-member band made their way to Bloomington last fall, I had never even listened to them before.
I decided to splurge on the $14 tickets and streamed two albums before heading out to The Bishop and seeing them live. I’ve loved the band since, but I never knew how to describe Twin Peaks' sound until now.
Now, I think I’ve discovered the perfect word — dreamy.
Twin Peaks’ music leaves me in a state of calmness, like I’m dreaming of being on a cloud with the sun shining down on my face. Their music leaves me longing for moments that haven’t happened to me yet, and this album is a perfect example of that.
“Sweet ’17 Singles” is a compilation of vinyl singles that Twin Peaks put out over the course of 2017. From July to December, two new songs were released and pressed onto vinyl for 300 subscribed fans to receive, according to Backseat Mafia, a music and film publication. After the year was over, they decided to compile the singles into an LP and then put the album on streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes.
When listening to “Sweet ’17 Singles” you can expect some of the songs to sound different from the others. However, somehow, the album brings the different vibes together to creative a cohesive, easy-flowing work.
“Fat Chance” is the halfway mark of the album and a great example of the change in pace. The band opted to just have a voice with a soft guitar in the background instead of the more powerful, upbeat sound you can hear in songs like “Shake Your Lonely.”
The song following “Fat Chance,” “Blue Coupe,” is currently the band’s most popular song on Spotify, and I can see why. The song starts with soft instruments and a twinkling piano, much like the beginning of a wonderfully angelic dream.
It later turns over into a song you can sway your body to before coming in with a lighter version of that Twin Peaks signature house-show-jam-session sound.
The album hits just under 50 minutes and would be a great thing to listen to while cooking lunch in a sunny kitchen or walking to class on one of those weirdly warm February days.
For this column, I made a “Sweet Singles” playlist featuring songs by artists like Twin Peaks, Current Joys and the Growlers.
