Born out of the ashes of the London-based 2010s chamber-folk outfit Fanfarlo, Vanishing Twin are a far cry from that project’s pop structures and clean genre tags. Instead, over the course of four albums, Fanfarlo alumni Cathy Lucas and Valentina Magaletti—along with Susumu Mukai—have managed to build their new project roughly in the image of Stereolab, albeit with more frequent departures from the worlds of neo-psychedlia and krautrock. The outfit’s newly announced fifth album Archives is no exception, with lead single “Bring Me the Axe” exploding into moments of blown-out digital percussion almost at random across five minutes of ambient pop paired with Lucas’ chanteuse vocals.
“‘Bring Me the Axe’ is loosely based on the story of Lizzy Borden, famous for the 1892 Fall River murders,” the band shares, suggesting violent connotations for the track’s chopped-up structure. “It’s about extremes: Extreme acts, extreme heat, and sonic extremes, the folkloric and the industrial.”
Arriving alongside the single is the new album’s title track, an even less-structured cut that unravels into spoken-word across its two minutes. Check out “Bring Me the Axe” below, or stream both tracks here.
