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Music

Twin Shadow

TWIN SHADOW at Lee’s Palace (529 Bloor West), Saturday (June 18), midnight. $15 or NXNE wristband/pass. nxne.com. See listing.


If there’s an artist capable of making you sob gently on the dance floor, it’s George Lewis Jr., aka Twin Shadow.

His debut album, last year’s Forget (4AD/Terrible/Beggars Group) is a full-length tribute to Lewis’s own sorrow, full of poetic self-pity over potent rhythms and brooding synths. Not the sort of thing you’d want to throw on at your niece’s sixth birthday party, but it is beautiful. The influence of Morrissey, Depeche Mode, Sade and the dark sound of 80s new wave is abundantly clear.

According to Lewis, his musical taste growing up didn’t run exclusively to mopey bands.

“A friend of mine from years ago just reminded me of how I used to only listen to 2Pac. I forgot that, and it surprised me,” he says.

The record’s pristine production can be credited to Chris Taylor of the band Grizzly Bear. Since then, Taylor has connected Lewis with Beyoncé’s sister, artist Solange Knowles. Earlier this year, the three collaborated on a benefit song for water in Africa commissioned by Coca-Cola.

Perhaps the younger Knowles will make an appearance on Twin Shadow’s next album, which Lewis has only started to think about.

“I am working hard to find time to make the follow up to Forget,” he says. “Twin Shadow has been hitting the road real hard these days. As soon as we pause, I’ll be working on Forget 2.”

See what all the fuss is about at one of NXNE’s hottest shows. Bring kleenex.

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