Watch: Psychic Twin - BreakThruRadio Live Session

My initially discovery of Psychic Twin was due to a conversation with Cemeteries' Kyle Reigle. He mentioned they were working on a song together (in what eventually came to be "Attean" from Reigle's Camp Counselors project) and my interest was peaked. Who was Psychic Twin? That question lead me to a modest Bandcamp page where I streamed all the available music and found the pairing of Reigle and Psychic Twin's Erin Fein to be a fitting one. Both create a sort of ethereal yet catchy form of dream-pop with a bit of an electronic element. Their vocals were even rather similar in a sense. The idea of them making music together seemed to be make more and more sense the more I listened to Psychic Twin. And their collaboration for Camp Counselors, though a little out of Reigle's normal Cemeteries element proved this to be so.



When I found out that Psychic Twin had just recently done a Break Thru Radio Live Session, I was of course intrigued. Though they only came to my attention a short time ago, I almost say them live when the show got cancelled in a bizarre twist. What did Psychic Twin sound like live? I didn't know. But thankfully this BTR session exists so for the moment I can pretend I know what their live show is like. Featuring "Strangers" in full and bits of "Unlock Your Heart" and "Don't Think", you can tell that Fein, the project's leader is very much a child of the 80s, surrounding her pristine vocal loops with synth-pop stylings that wouldn't be out of place back then. But it's a sort of synthesis of her love of 80s music paired with her own musical ideas that make Psychic Twin more than just an 80s revival act, I feel. "Unlock Your Heart" in particular has a sort of nostalgia-invoking sense without actually sounding like a particular band, and that's just the sort of way it should be.

Camp Counselors - Huntress (2013)

If I'm being totally honest, my discovery and initial listening to Cemeteries frontman Kyle Reigle's side project Camp Counselors was inspired by little more than a sort of dare. Despite the fact that Reigle was incredibly proud of it, when discussing Huntress he seemed almost certain that it wouldn't be liked, especially by me in particular. Described loosely as a set of half-inaccessible jumble of rather synth-heavy tunes inspired by old John Carpenter movies and other horror movie soundtracks, I'll say I wasn't really all that interested in the project until Reigle specifically singled me out as a potential detractor. Challenge freaking accepted.

To Reigle's surprise as well as my own, when he released the virtual 7" featuring the two Huntress tracks "02/05/11" and "Oslo", I was drawn in. Maybe it was mostly in part due to my love of intelligently-approached concepts, but though I didn't go absolutely crazy about the digital single when I heard it I made a mental note to actually check out Huntress. It wasn't until I heard the next single "Attean" featuring Psychic Twin's Erin Fein that I knew for sure that my interest in the album was something more than just curiosity and a strange sort of defensive reaction to being told flat out I wouldn't like something before I had even given it a taste.

Truthfully, I can't imagine why Reigle would be that nervous about the accessibility of Huntress. Even without an extensive knowledge of all the horror movies and their compositions that inspired the album or a like of electronic music in really anything but the most basic capacity, there's really not much to dislike in Huntress. The Camp Counselors record performs in a similar way to Reigle's Cemeteries work - mostly seamless texture-laden tracks that are oddly moving despite occasionally obscured lyrics. You don't have to make out what Reigle is singing exactly to be effected by what's going on musically and that's the signs of some pretty top notch musicianship.

Filled with Reigle's increasingly characteristic swooping vocal lines (and Fein's on the aforementioned "Attean") but grounded by meaty, bass-y synth lines, Huntress is a rather solid half hour of music. The majority of the album's tracks stretch across more than your standard 3 minute radio-friendly fare but they don't seem excessive in that regard, gently unfolding unfettered by any notion of time constraint; how music is supposed to. Even the album's interludes "An Absence" (the first part of the track "An Absence/Fawn"), "Stained Glass", and "An Absence #2" feel like they belong, giving the album a consistent flow. Huntress is a pretty strong album regardless of where your interests lie, able to stand on its own merits apart from its pretty neat concept. A hallmark of a great concept record.

You can listen/stream/download the first album Huntress from Cemeteries' Kyle Reigle's Camp Counselors side project via Bandcamp. The album is out today digitally with a physical release to soon follow on Reigle's own Snowbeast Records.

Listen: Camp Counselors - "Attean" (ft. Psychic Twin)

Cemeteries mastermind Kyle Reigle has a brand new side project. If the sleek, dream pop stylings of his debut album The Wilderness was up your alley (which it totally should be - it was amazing) then the forthcoming album Huntress under the Camp Counselors moniker should tickle your fancy as well.

Inspired by old sci-fi and horror movie soundtracks, Camp Counselors takes a far more synth-heavy approach to the atmospheric pop Reigle dabbles in. "Attean", the latest track from the upcoming Huntress, sees Reigle pairing up with Psychic Twin's Erin Fein for a rather accessible supernatural-tinged synth-pop jam.

Fein's involvement is a subtle but notable touch providing another bit of coloring to an already modestly arranged textural palette. The two vocals mostly stand apart which is rather unexpected twist in such a collaboration but when they do occasionally interweave it feels properly earned.

It's enough to single-handedly usher in major excitement for Huntress which is slated for release later this month on Reigle's own Snowbeast Records. (Via Portals)