I’ve reviewed several albums for Lucy Out Loud the last few months, but I’ve never been as excited to get the job done as I am now. Twin Forks and their debut self-titled EP have been on my radar for a bit now because it is headed by Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever. The entire band may seem familiar to some of you as it is made up of Chris, Suzie Zeldin (The Narrative), Jonathan Clark, and Ben Homola (Bad Books). What might surprise some of you is that this is a folk band. The signs were there for Carrabba though given his tours and friendship with Cory Branan or the Covered in the Flood album that he released under his given name where he covered names like John Prine, Justin Townes Earle, and the aforementioned Branan.
The album kicks off with Back to You, a song that instantly clues you in on the style and sound you’ll be hearing over the length of this EP, but maintains all the things that make up a Chris Carrabba song. It is the perfect amount of catchy and folksy. Something We Just Know is the next song and opens with some fingerpicking before finding a familiar groove. This trend continues with Cross My Mind, a song that clearly has a different vision but doesn’t seem wholly different than what Carrabba has been doing for years. That aside, it is a great fun song that I can’t help whistling and clapping along to.
Can’t Be Broken starts off similarly but manages to recover, hitting its stride with what you’d expect form a folk driven album. Scraping up the Pieces is the final track on the album and sounds the most like it’s from a completely different band. It has almost an Irish folk cadence to it that works incredibly well.
Despite the similarities to past projects, all 5 songs are great. When you have a name like Chris Carrabba attached to a new project, it’s nearly impossible to not compare it to his old work and ask “why”. While there is still some Dashboard in this album, and let’s be honest there may always be a hint, it is a great first step. Twin Forks was only formed as a band this year, after over a decade of Dashboard Confessional and Further Seems Forever. There is absolutely promise with the sound that you can hear developing throughout the 5 song EP. I was excited to listen to this album and now I’m excited to hear more.
Release Date: September 17th, 2013
Rating: 4/5
Runtime: ≈15 minutes
Track List:
Back to You
Something We Just Know
Cross My Mind
Can’t Be Broken
Scraping Up the Pieces
Twin Forks is:
Chris Carrabba – Guitar / Vocals
Suzie Zeldin – Mandolin
Jonathan Clark – Bass
Ben Homola – Drums
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Written By: Mark Northern
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