Mr. Twin Sister: "Our band's whole M.O. is tied to evolution and change"

Behind the scenes, 'real life' had been getting in the way, and the didn't necessarily have the financial freedom to overcome the logistical plagues. Heck, it wasn't a case of popularity – Kendrick Lamar happily sampled the NYC outfit, and singer Andrea Estella replaced Leighton Meester in the crowdfunded Veronica Mars flick. However, they did eventually get the ol' band back together, and returned to our shores rebranded, energised and ready to offload bucketloads of fresh sounds.

“In The House Of Yes” was on of the first fanfares heralding their arrival. It's a strikingly Big Apple loftspace-dance track; inflated with funk and '80s pop-isms, it's achingly catchy and bone-shudderingly boogietastic. It glistens with effortless cool. In our whopping 8.5/10 review of their new, eponymous, LP, Kate Travers said:

“...you'll be glad to know the feel-good vibes that made us love them in the first place are everywhere - “Rude Boy” and “In The House of Yes” being especially reminiscent of the groove-lead pop on the Colour Your Life EP. You could say a lot about Mr. Twin Sister, but no one can dispute that they know how to write a pop song with a great bass line. And that's not all they can do. Mr. Twin Sister goes to show that these guys have a lot up their sleeve.”

We had a chance to catch up with the band's Dev Gupta and Gabe D'Amico to talk about their new record's gestation period, working with Ava Luna and their proudest moments.

It's been quite a while since we've heard from Mr. Twin Sister; what did you do between In Heaven and this new record? Was all that time spent making the new one?

Dev Gupta: A lot of our time was spent making this record, but a lot of it was also spent living, making music full-time is unsustainable for five people playing in a band of our size.

Gabe D'Amico: In a sense. We've been living our regular lives; going to our day jobs, working on our personal art, hashing out new material on evenings and weekends at our home studio. Occasionally we drop by a studio in Philly to record live sessions and mix tracks. We also smashed up our van and broke some bones last March, but that event didn't really impede our process, it just slowed things to a drip for a while.

I'm sure you get asked this a million times a day, but why the “Mr.”?

G: Another band owns the trademark, they made it fairly clear that they were unwilling to share it, and we didn't want to operate with a constant cloud over our heads.

DA: Besides sounding good, it allowed us to sidestep some impending legal trouble involving a different group named Twin Sister. It also goes nicely with the vibe of the album, doesn't it?

What's influenced Mr. Twin Sister (the record)?

The struggle to stay creative and productive in the face of the constant pressure to not.

How about Mr. Twin Sister the band? What's kept you going since In Heaven?

We love each other. We feed off each other creatively, so making things together in an ongoing experiment with no end date.

What moments are you most proud of on the new record?

G: I'm most proud of us finishing it; we have a hard time letting go. Some of the tracks on the record were destroyed and re-built many times with small artefacts from previous iterations living on in the next incarnation. It is an exhausting process. You get attached to moments and then try to shoehorn them into versions where they don't fit anymore. A few of the songs didn't go through that torture, we followed our instincts from start to finish without overthinking. I am especially proud of those. It's hard to describe what effortlessness sounds like, but I think you can hear the difference. I'll leave it to you to guess which ones are which.

DA: I'm proud of Eric for picking up the saxophone and finding himself in it, proud of Andrea for stepping out of her comfort zone stylistically and singing louder and with less abandon than ever, proud of Bryan for being uncompromising and meticulous, proud of Dev for writing the best songs of his life to date.

For you, which track/s are the happiest, which are saddest and which make you move the most?

G: The goal is to make music that evokes multiple emotions, hopefully simultaneously. Bryan likes to describe it as “tears in the club”. Context is everything. I think of art as an imperfect mirror that distorts and refracts the listener/viewer's own perspective and emotions. Hopefully it does it in interesting ways that helps them learn more about themselves and their place in the world.

DA: “Sensitive” is moving in a proper, cinematic sense, and because Andrea is singing her own words, which always has a particular thrust. “Blush” is moving because I fondly remember it's inception, which was effortless and natural, and because it has a bunch of talented guests on it. “Medford” is moving because I can picture Eric making it in his bedroom alone.

What was it like working with Jon Low? What did he bring to the table?

G: We can't say enough good things about Jon Low. He's an amazing person, producer, mixer, engineer, dresser, etc. He's really good at adapting his expertise to the musicians he works with. Both him and Rashad Becker were really crucial to helping us elevate the fidelity and clarity of the end result.

DA: Jon is an easygoing, talented producer and engineer whose best skill is getting us to relax a bit and trust our instincts. We've known him for a few years now, so our mutual understanding feels earned. Put simply, he makes us sound better.

How about the guys from Ava Luna? What impact did they have?

G: Carlos' string arrangements speak for themselves. Working with him, Julian, Becca, Felicia, as well as string players and other singers was a privilege for us. Collaborating with voices outside of your normal circle is incredibly inspiring, they pull you in unexpected directions.

DA: They're very humble, but they're extremely talented professionals. They added depth and sophistication to the tracks that they worked on with us. In another life, maybe we were all in-demand session players, arrangers, and writers together.

Did you learn much from making Mr. Twin Sister? What?

G: Putting out your own record rules.

DA: When something is done you should feel it. We waited for the feeling on this one.

Could you tell us the story behind “In The House Of Yes”? What's it about?

It's about excess as a means of escape. It fairly accurately describes a lot of our own Friday nights.

Do you feel that you've evolved as musicians or as people between In Heaven and now?

Yes, our band's whole M.O. is tied to evolution and change. The moment we stop changing or growing is when we know that it's time to start booking the reunion tour.

How about in terms of your sound?

This is the sort of thing that is best left to the listener. It's all there on recording to parse out if you're so inclined.

If you could collaborate with anyone, who would that be and why?

G: Jai Paul. I want to collaborate with him in the hope that he'll play us some of his unreleased shit 'cause I'm dying for more music.

How has the new record gone down at shows?

G: Until now, all the shows we've played with songs from the record were to people who had never heard them before. People respond differently to songs they don't know, more intent listening, less dancing. So, I'm excited for the few shows we have coming up, get a true gauge for what everybody's feeling.

DA: People have been very attentive and curious about the new songs; that is to say, the shows we've played recently were all prior to the release of the album. Hopefully there will be a bit more of a cathartic release once everyone is up on the new material.

What does fall hold for the band? Are there many things on the horizon?

We'll be working on our next record, not touring much until that's done, and then we'll see if we can try and get out and about in the world in 2015.

What's next for Mr. Twin Sister?

A smattering of shows, then it's back to recording. We've got another album to finish.

Mr Twin Sister is out now via Infinite Best.