Prior to the Pitchfork showcase at Austin Central Presbyterian, most of what I had gathered about Twin Shadow involved pouty-faced photographs and a meticulously coiffed bouffant. As said coiffure was concealed under an equally voluminous (faux?) fur cap, I got the long overdue chance to focus a bit on his (their) music.
Twin Shadow is definitely one of those bands known primarily by their frontman. As follows from such a focus of attention, much of their act comes across as rigidly aestheticized performance art. Despite this, lead singer George Lewis Jr. allowed himself a few soft-spoken jibes and jokes with the church audience, at one point even recounting at length a cautionary tale of getting caught stealing from the Presbyterian church he attended as a boy.
Musically, the show was a welcome surprise, with Lewis letting his I-can't-believe-it's-not-Morrissey tenor expand to fill the cavernous space of the church, and dredging up some vocal grit on the louder phrases of "Slow". An unexpected bonus, Lewis invited his producer, Chris Taylor of Grizzly Bear, onstage toward the end of the set to help sing their album's title track, "Forget".
