Review and interview on our new CD

See why Apsara Music likes our new CD, The Sound of Secret Names in Sarah Lin Bhatia's review and interview piece. The interview excerpts include some details about the origin of the new album's title... You can hear and get The Sound of Secret Names now.

new album: The Sound of Secret Names

Our new album, The Sound of Secret Names, is available now as either a download, or as a download with a CD shipped to you. Order here.

This is Twang's first proper studio album, and I'm quite proud of the work we've done: 13 new songs of instrumental rock music, touching upon Appalachian, Spaghetti Western, swamp and roots, blues, Elizabethan, Native American, and jazz notes. Dulcimers, acoustic and electric guitars, flute, harmonica, upright bass, and sensational drumming -- Twang music!

acoustic Twang: The Beautiful Years Roll

A live acoustic performance of The Beautiful Years Roll, one on the songs on our new CD, The Sound of Secret Names. Recorded during a radio performance on Red River Radio.

studio Twang: Hogstone

A swamp rock sort of thing... one of our "juke joint" pieces, as we recorded it for our cd, The Sound of Secret Names.

A lot of songs for me begin with a central riff idea I find while noodling around. I play around with that riff and let it percolate and mutate. If it's of made of sound stuff, it can lead to a pretty loosely structured arrangement with fair amount of improvisational business related to the riff. Luckily this kind of approach works really well with Twang Darkly -- Joel and Troy are dogged trackers!

This particular piece ends up seeming as though it were structured like a normal ABABCAB sort of song, but the pattern of "parts" is dictated primarily by the feel of the individual performance.

You can also check out a live version of Hogstone from a show in Fall 2011.

acoustic Twang: Lydian Glass

Here's an excerpt from our Feb. 29 show on Red River Radio -- a piece for GDD-tuned dulcimer. One of my personal favorites, it straddles some strange and enjoyable line between jazz and Celtic influences.