Drawing influences from punk, grunge and of course Riot Grrrl, The Twistettes produce a super dirty, gritty, lo-fi sound with floor filling drum beats and grinding bass lines. They manage to create the illusion of other instruments by filing every split second with raw, unforgiving notes that carry each other through every song in Jilt the Jive. The vocals on the other hand are always rather wonderfully melodic, which means that you end up with some seriously danceable songs and brilliant shout along choruses.
‘Lamppost Light’ delivers all of the above and more. Stepping outside of the feminist fuelled lyrics just for a moment, this track shows the lighter side of The Twistettes as lyrics flood in: “I will swim in to your blue blue eyes”. It paints a relatable picture of falling head first in to a relationship and the insecurities that follow. The chorus has a great melody that will be stuck in your head for days.
The opening track, ‘I Think Not’, is however much more down to business. It seems to centre on the way women in the music industry are instructed to look and act by the men behind the scenes, pulling the strings: “Wear that tiny dress for me…swing that sexy ass for me…I think not”. Their raw live energy transfers well on to the record here as well as on other emotionally charged tracks like their second single, ‘Suck It! Fake It!’ This track is a total anthem in its own right. It’s easy to imagine a room full of women jumping to the driving bass and screaming the words at the top of their lungs: “I’m a slut, I’m a tease, I’m a whore, I’m a bitch, I’m a prude, I’m a bore”.
Their second single, ‘The Line’, is also proper hit material. The chanting chorus has a brilliant sing along quality and the build-up between it and the verse creates an excitable atmosphere. The strategically named closing track, ‘Is This It’, captures perfectly the essence of this band; political feminist’s out for social justice. A brilliant debut, it seems we can expect to see a lot more from The Twistettes in the future.