twikipedia – Still-Life Review

Start the year off right with new material. It may be the lazy days of February but for twikipedia, the brains behind EP Still-Life, the start of the year proved monumentally important. Dropping this on the first day of the year and not looking back, the bold moves of the new year paired with a fresh step of artistic direction is a neat pairing. Push away the satisfaction of others, as twikipedia does here for their five-track EP. What a triumph it is. People pleasing only gets you to where people want you. Charting your course is far more impressive, and for Still-Life, the confidence and against-the-wall fear heard in these tracks is stunning. Brilliant work pours through this one – it takes just those powerful electronic guitar placements on opener I Wanna Be The Guy to prove it. 

Bedroom pop finally given the chance to explore the room around them. A spacious feel filters through Still-Life, the niceties of well-layered acoustic work and a wispy voice floating on through the solid foundation of instrumentals is crucial for making Sail work. Those constants are pushed over and around by drumbeats and out-of-step stylings somewhat. Nothing too major but certainly noticeable as the thump or bang of percussion tries to fill the void or pulls away at a moment which may work better as a quieter, stripped-back section. Even then the argument is null and void with the feel-good summary skills of Understand. Upbeat and soft rock-oriented, Still-Life twists and turns through some heartfelt moments of clarity. 

twikipedia has, naturally, aimed for those tones. A break from what they have achieved before more for necessity and artistic variety than anything else. Sometimes it is nice to stride away from the usual tones – it is a sign of danger to stay firm with the sounds audiences grow accustomed to. Understand and Hurt maintain this wonderfully consistent, bittersweet form. Still-Life has all the intricate sounds of an artist given a new lease of life to explore and create in an environment which has interested them in the past. Creativitiy, for Still-Life particularly, is all about timing. They are not rushing off to do this or that, there is space for them to grow their sound and create on their terms. There is little better than hearing someone create with the freedom to fail, though Still-Life has no spots which predict trouble.  

Acoustic beauties and a bedroom pop style which holds enough consistency to work as slacker rock and generalised indie too, Still-Life has plenty of firm ideas to it and it is a credit to twikipedia for trying. They succeed, rapidly so with their electronic jitters and plinky flashes on closer Killing Time. Is that not what this is, after all? Killing time before the next call to arms? Do it on your terms as Twikipedia does and it all becomes far more valuable and interesting. Still-Life may be of a calm and laid-back variety, but the fear, anxieties and borderline insanity felt in its process can be heard throughout. These are the moments musicians and listeners must not take for granted. A stressed release, a wonderful compilation of songs with a neat instrumental flow between them, spawned from an artist hoping to challenge themselves and their listeners.