18 April 27 - MAy 3, 2023 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | News | letters | coNteNts | miaminewtimes.com MIAMI NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | ART | STAGE | NIGHT+DAY | METRO | RIPTIDE | LETTERS | CONTENTS | Double Trouble Twyn strives for intentionality on debut album, Lyght Years. BY ASHLEY-ANNA ABOREDEN T wyn’s debut album, Lyght Years, takes the listener on a journey to a futuristic world with dance-influ- enced melodies set against a nos- talgic soundscape. It’s music you can dance to but also chill to, complete with catchy hooks that beg to get stuck in your head. After releasing the EP Eudaemonia in 2020, Jason Matthews and Aaron Glueckauf, the duo behind Tywn, continued fine-tuning their sound for their new album, which is set to release on May 5 via Brooklyn-based label La Reserve Records. Matthews and Glueckauf wrote, played, mixed, and produced the record over the course of two years, putting all their effort into creating something that feels intentional. “It took so long because we did everything ourselves — the producing, the mixing, and all the decisions,” Matthews says. “You get way deeper into it when you have to do it all yourself. We aren’t making electronic sounds with sample packs; we’re making them au- thentically from our own acoustic instru- ments. We are physically changing the mics for [Glueckauf’s] drum and being like, ‘Okay, this sounds like this. The mic needs to be pulled away’ — you know, all that stuff.” Originally trained as jazz musicians, Mat- thews and Glueckauf have been making music since 2010, when they met in music school in Miami and started their first band together. Af- ter performing with different styles and proj- ects — Matthews performed as part of Electric Kif, while Glueckauf took part in Lemon City Trio — the pair came together to form Twyn. “We were playing all the time and sort of doing duo gigs just the two of us around town,” Glueckauf says. “And then from there, all these years in and out of different projects, we were kind of doing stuff that was a little more funky, a little more of a roots vibe, and then morphed into this thing over time.” After several small gigs, they brought in a looper that, as Matthews put it, “became the third man in the group” and started nurturing their distinct sound. The pair improvised over loops and created new melodies on the fly. During the recording sessions for Lyght Years, Matthews and Glueckauf stuck to what they knew best. “We’re co-writing and coproducing and coming up with ideas, kind of just very im- provisatory, and then sometimes get down to the nitty-gritty and play our songs too,” Glueckauf adds. During these moments of improvisation, the pair forms the core melodies and then builds off them while blending Matthews and Glueckauf’s love of pop, hip-hop, and R&B music. “We are jazz mu- sicians at the core,” Matthews explains. “A goal that we have is writing instrumen- tal music, but we think of it sort of through a pop or electronic lens. When I’m writing a melody on my keyboard, I’m not thinking in this jazz-fusion way; I’m thinking as if someone would sing that line.” Not all the music on Lyght Years is devoid of lyrics. The album’s first single and title track features Glueckauf’s vocals. “The goal is to make music that makes you feel good and groove and nod your head, but also you want to sit back and put it on in your car and think,” Matthews says. In the end, the goal the pair set out when recording Lyght Years was to convey and elicit an emotional response from the listener. “It’s not about flexing as a musician, but it’s about hitting these key emotions,” Glueckauf says. “I feel like our music has a nostalgic element to it.” [email protected] Jason Matthews and Aaron Glueckauf of Twyn Photo by Andre/@ikigai_foto “IT’S NOT ABOUT FLEXING AS A MUSICIAN, BUT IT’S ABOUT HITTING THESE KEY EMOTIONS.” | CROSSFADE | t Music
