Free

Spare a thought for Scottish tunesmiths Twin Atlantic. No matter how hard they try, for the next few years their lilting, spiky, angular and angsty brand of rock ‘n’ roll will be compared to fellow countrymen (and currently the more popular purveyors of that very sound) Biffy Clyro, and there isn’t a single thing they can do about it. And while we do thus have a modicum of sympathy for them, their decision to embrace these similarities rather than putting them at a distance on their debut album Free is a colossal creative misfire.
Simply put, there isn’t a single song on this 13 track release that doesn’t sound derivative. ‘Time For You To Stand Up’ is complaint rock at its worst; the title track sounds like a Biffy B-Side and while the cellos are a nice touch on the “radio-friendly sensitive ballad” ‘Crash Land,’ it just comes across as contrived. All in all, Free is a massive disappointment.
If Twin Atlantic want to establish themselves as more than Biff Clyro’s little brothers, then they’ll have to drastically rethink their sound for album number two.