I have no idea how you pronounce twst. Is it as it appears
or is there a silent vowel making it ‘twist’? Please send help / advise as
appropriate. Thanks.
Either way, today I’m featuring this Welsh born artist who
has been whacking out some excellent edgy, horizon searching pop music over the
last few years with her debut EP TWST0001 dropping in the early months of 2020
during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, because twst (real name Chloe Davis) has been
around for a while I had to check that I hadn’t already featured Chloe on the
blog in the past.
It seems I had, but only in a roundabout way; a number of twst
tracks had featured on my monthly playlist in 2020 (which eventually
transformed into the New Music Weekly playlist) and I used to post about those
playlists here. However, I’ve never fully introduced Chloe and with new
material now being released plus some forthcoming live shows, this moment seems
a good time to shine the light further.
So where to start with twst? I’d recommend somewhere near
the beginning, with Are You Listening? a futuristic, electrifying horror-pop tune full
of bassy minimalism, Hitchcock-like Psycho samples and lyrics that centre on
problems of the world such as misogyny, climate change and fake news.
From there I’d jump to most recent release Catch Me
(Beautiful Fall); twst's most commercial romp through the world of pop so far, if
there was an exam in bangers, Catch Me would get a high grade A. Written with
long-term writing partner Eden Tredwell, the credits for Catch Me (Beautiful
Fall) reveal that one of the producers besides twst was one Clarence
Clarity. Remember him? He first featured on this blog about 10 years ago and has
subsequently gone on to work with the likes of Rina Sawayama and Sundara Karma.
If you’ve never heard his track 4GODSLUV then your homework for tonight is to
listen to that.
But before you do so, try twst and keep an eye out for 2nd
EP TWST0002 later this year as well as forthcoming live shows which
include Swn Festival in Cardiff later this month and a headline show at The Grace
in London on 12th December.
twst - Are You Listening?
