Interview by Shannon Lawlor
Twin Weaver are a four piece alternative band hailing from Cape Town, South Africa. Their music can be best described as a majestic stir of genres such as alternative-pop and ‘90s inspired shoegazing akin to that of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine.
To date, Twin Weaver have self-released a cluster of hypnotizing, consistent singles and are currently working beyond this to capture their inspiring, ever-evolving sound. Hazy, dizzying guitars, enchanting vocals and atmospheric walls-of-sound shape Twin Weaver in a somewhat familiar manner – but quite like nothing you’ve ever heard before.
Twin Weaver are set to perform at Cape Town’s picturesque Endless Daze festival on November 3-5, surrounded by lush scenery and it’s inevitable power to impress.
We spoke with Twin Weaver on influence and dream collaborations:
For anyone unfamiliar with Twin Weaver’s celestial shimmer, could you give us some background on how the band was originally formed?
The band came into existence slowly over the course of 2016. We’d been writing and recording demos almost the entire year but basically none of them made it through to 2017. If you snagged one of our limited demo tapes you got a taste of those. Struggling to find a name and sound for the project, we wrote ‘Sunblock’ (and finally picked the name Twin Weaver) and felt ready to show it to the world.
So far, Twin Weaver have released a handful of alluring, bewitching singles – self-produced and self-released. Do you have any plans to collectively release these songs?
We’ve always been big fans of artists that release music frequently. For instance King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard are about to release their 4th album of 2017. Which is wild. Releasing a string of singles has given us a better chance to grow in the local scene and remain current. There are no plans for re-releasing our singles as a unified body of work, but we do think our next release may be closer to an EP.
On November 4th, Twin Weaver are set to perform at Endless Daze Festival located in South Africa. What are you most looking forward to about this experience?
Endless Daze last year took us by surprise. The festival was so well thought out and polished. We’re excited for more of the same great experience – and being on stage this time!
If Twin Weaver could single handedly-change the music industry, how would they do it?
We would like to re-legitimize alternative music in the mainstream. Right now it’s pretty tough to get your music to be played to a wide audience without either a large amount of money and influence, or excessive triplet hi-hats. We can appreciate that styles come and go – Grunge had it’s day, but so did Dubstep. We hope we’re heading in the direction of the next thing.
Twin Weaver uses an array of unique sounds; from warped, distorted guitars to dreamlike synthesizers, and effect-drenched vocal work to torrents of texture. What piece of equipment do you feel is essential in achieving your signature tone?
The gear we use generally isn’t that special. In all honesty when it comes to recording we don’t even use amplifiers about 80% of the time. One thing that seems to sneak itself onto every track is the Yamaha DX7. It’s notoriously difficult to program but Josh has managed to get his head around it.
If Twin Weaver could collaborate with any artist on the planet – who would it be, and why?
The obvious choice would be someone like Kevin Parker of Tame Impala, but I don’t think anything interesting would come out of that. I think collaborating with someone outside of the genre we make music in would be very exciting. So maybe someone like Scott Hansen of Tycho. He’s managed to cultivate such a rich organic sound while still being electronic. Everything he makes just oozes sonic quality. We could definitely learn a lot!
What does the future hold for Twin Weaver?
We have a few more gigs lined up before the end of the year. After that I think we’re hoping to have a slightly longer format release, maybe a short EP. Getting ourselves to Joburg is also on the list of things we need to do!
Twin Weaver will be performing live at Endless Daze festival in Cape Town, South Africa, 3 – 5 November
For more information follow Twin Weaver on Facebook
