We’ve featured Philadelphia-via-Portland duo Twelve Gardens a couple of times already here at VSF, being big fans of their previous two releases, No More Cool ‘93 and Feed the Bug. Their third release, helpfully titled Tape Three, was released back in July, and sees the band continue with their brand of lo-fi, 90s-alt indie rock mixed with the diary-like honesty of Bandcamp era bedroom pop.
‘Maria’ is a big rickety indie rock jam, the vocals delivered in mumbled lulls between stirring rumbles of lo-fi guitar. “It’s too easy to blame myself,” Chetty sings, “I’m trying to let it go / insects fly out of my mouth, tell them to go to the home.”
‘lone fir’ opens slow and plodding before exploding into dynamic indie rock. It’s something of a breakup song, beginning with absent-minded introspection (“I ride my bike to work, I think about everything, I try to notice the trees, but my thoughts ring louder”) and ending in a trip to the cemetery.
“Come leave a flower
you know we never fit together”
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There’s a much gentler acoustic strum on ‘morning’, while the closing track is a reworking of ‘bicycle’, which originally appeared on No More Cool ‘93. It’s a disarmingly sweet lo-fi pop song, with enough crunchy guitar to offer something to the alt-rock fans too.
“Would you believe me
if I told you that you meant the world to me?”
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Tape Three is another great EP from a band that is slowly building a nice collection of lo-fi rock songs. Get it now from the Twelve Gardens Bandcamp page.