Lonely Twin starts with a blast of joy: “open up the door and let me in” sings frontman Jordan Geiger, through a nest of strange instruments. The song is a pop bomb, and it leads us into the new Hospital Ships record.
Hospital Ships is primarily Geiger, occasional member of Shearwater, and former frontman for obscure indie rock group Minus Story. Minus Story was a great band, criminally underrated, and sorely missed. This is his second record under the Hospital Ships name.
The aforementioned track, “Love or Death” starts the album incredibly. It sounds like an outtake from the Flaming Lips’ The Soft Bulletin, while starting a theme of confusion and love that continues throughout the album. The album is at times painfully sad, but the melodies bring the reality of life to the surface, and turn a lot of it into a sing-a-long. The song is quickly reminiscent of the last (and best) Minus Story album My Ion Truss. It’s loud but not loud, and epic, especially for a pop song that lasts just over two minutes.
A few tracks later, “Galaxies” begins with a piano, and an easy to miss acoustic guitar in the background. The vocals kicks in quickly, which brings us to another fantastic thing about this album. Quick notes kick in and out throughout the record, and in this song especially. Even a couple dozen listens in a listener will notice new things. The songs are built with quirky sounds in a way that is a little mind bogglingly.
The next song, “Phantom Limb” is a sweet ballad that is at times a bit tricky. Odd vocal melodies float in, and at one point something that sounds like a train chugging comes along. Geiger begs for a relationship to die, and you feel the heartbreak throughout. The end of the song sounds like a funeral and it’s almost enough to leave a person weeping.
Immediately after, is “Carry On.” This kind of thing has been done before, but unlike “Float On” there is no sarcasm here. The song has an honesty that is missed in most “fuck it, we’ll get by anyhow song.” It feels weary and depressed, but that makes it all the more human.
A couple tracks later is “Old Skin,” a dirge of a pop song, and probably the best thing here. “We always knew these songs would get lost, and they’re gone, but we go on,” sings Geiger, and it’s a kind of manifesto for the entire album. A lot of the songs are centered around the idea of struggling through loss, and dealing with life’s mishaps. Geiger shapes his thoughts through pop melodies, and the random noises could be seen as a metaphor for life’s little struggles. The more you listen, the bigger the album gets.
You should buy this. You should buy all of the old Minus Story records all well. Lonely Twin is one of the best records of 2011, and it’ll provide you years of joy. It improves on the first Hospital Ships record in every way, and it’ll be exciting to see what comes next.
Tracklisting:
1. Love or Death
2. Honey Please
3. Bird in Furs
4. Galaxies
5. Phantom Limb
6. Carry On
7. Anyone Everyone (free mp3)
8. Old Skin
9. Reprise
10. Little Dead Leaf
11. New Life
12. Dani Love of Mine (Bonus vinyl only track)
