Tweens

Artist: Tweens

Album: Tweens

Genre: Pop Punk

2014

LP/Album

Favorite Track: Impossible to decide, but my ego says Forever
Available as: Download, CD, and vinyl (Frenchkiss)

Wow. I've let this place go. I mean, really, there's cobwebs on my keyboard and dust all over my records. I've let this blog slip out of my mind, but today I saw that it's been exactly one year since Tweens released their debut album, and I said to myself, "Self, it's time to bring the Adventurous Ear back."

I first encountered Tweens at Cincinnati's Midpoint Music Festival two years ago. I saw Wussy and The Breeders that day as well, but I had the best time when Tweens were playing. Their music is so fun and has so much energy that as soon as they started playing, I started paying attention (which I hadn't been doing for the first act that played). I started following them on social media, bought a digital copy of their "Live At Mohawk" EP (finally tracked down a cassette copy almost a year later), and was hugely excited when they announced their first full-length. I preordered it off of Bandcamp, in a package with not just the vinyl LP, but a demo cassette and other cool swag. But by far the most exciting thing was when they asked for volunteers to come and be in the music video for "Forever." Couldn't pass up the chance. I went down to the location, saw an awesome show, and got my 2 1/2 seconds of fame. 

When the album arrived in the mail, I listened to almost nothing else for at least a week afterwards (much to the chagrin of my parents, who don't get punk music). Although the band does an awesome job on the fast and furious mosh-pit stompers like "McMicken" and "Hardcore Boy," there's variety in the writing. "Don't Wait Up," which was my favorite of the demos they put up on Bandcamp, is a fantastic mid-tempo song with a great riff, and "Want U" is a reverb-heavy and surprisingly tender ballad which couples with "Forever" (another great mid-tempo song) to make an ode to mixed-up teenage emotions, something I'm intimately familiar with. Tweens have a musicianship that not all punk bands do. Bridget Battle has an excellent and distinctive voice and a strong guitar style, and bassist Peyton Copes totally rocks it - he's definitely one of the best punk bassists around. I think that might have been one of the first things that really attracted me to the band - as a bassist myself, I enjoy listening to artists who don't relegate the instrument to the background, especially when the player is really good.

I love this album so much it's hard for me to contain myself when writing about it. When I got a new turntable, this was the first album I played on it. Tweens also has the honor of being the band I've seen live the most times. Back when I was still living in Cincinnati full-time, I'd go every time they played, and they sound just as good in person as they do on the record. Which is saying something. If someone put a knife to my throat and made me name my favorite pop punk album, I would definitely pick this. It's got a little bit of everything and all the songs are incredibly enjoyable. So happy birthday, Tweens! I can't wait to see what the next album looks like.