Twin Shadow: Confess – review

It can't be often that one of 4AD's rota merits a comparison to Lady Gaga, but there's much in Twin Shadow's second album that ploughs the leather-clad, hog-riding 80s rock-pop furrow that Gaga attempted on her last record. But where she fell for the occasionally overbearing bombast of the era, George Lewis Jr seeks out the finer details, using his second album to add more polish and shine to the arch synths of his debut. The insistent Five Seconds, its first single, sounds like it's been plucked from the triumphant prom scene of a long-lost John Hughes film, while the Boss/Police feel of Run My Heart manages to come across as both threatening and uplifting. This isn't merely revivalism, though. You Can Call Me On starts out as an early-90s rock hit, but it quickly steps back into a driving R&B beat, before careering towards a noisy, ambient finish. Lewis says Confess was inspired by a return to his motorbike, having previously stopped riding following an accident. It certainly captures that exhilaration.