Twin Peaks – Lookout Low

Apollo, God of sun and song, shines brighter than ever, gifting down an album that will never shake its silver spurs.

Lookout Low is the sonic encapsulation of a moment in time. As Summer parts way, leaving with warm promise, you turn to Autumn’s hushed hellos with thick embrace. You can feel its breath, it is alive and well and good. It takes nothing from no one, it only gives. This is Chi-town power-entity Twin Peaks’ fourth album (not including a live album and a singles compilation). It should be played loudly: all through the night, and into the morning.

Twin Peaks are the gift that keeps on giving. They have built a tight-knit community across the world. Their shows serve as a celebration of life and those around you. And they’ve found a way to put that feeling of joy and union that was coming out of the music right back into it.Part of that magic had much to do with the way this album was recorded: live and under the influence of the serene Wales countryside. Tracking it all together made for some real truth to the music. All the pretty little mistakes give this album a personality unique to itself. You genuinely get the feeling of spontaneity in every beat, never knowing for certain what the album will evoke from you this time. The mix is earthy and raw, self-reliant and tangible. It is very reflective of what they might’ve seen out their window while across the pond.

All things have evolved with this Twin Peaks album. The most obvious addition being the free-flowing dual background singers Macie Stewart and Sima Cunningham. They take every song to a purer plane of higher sound. All the precautions taken prove that the boys really hunkered down and honed their abilities to bring out the absolute best in each other. I believe the product of this hard work is exactly that: The best. Every one of them, specifically the four songwriters, was able to grow into a whole new level of musicianship that shatters anything previously fathomable. This is a record that deserves no comparison. They’ve earned that right by making songs that reflect active human emotion through the four writing styles, taking you about as if it’s the turn of the season. This album is more than music, it’s movement.

I have few words for this album, for words do it no justice. Go out and buy this record. Sit down, listen, and see what it tells you. I tried not to highlight any one song on this album because it needs to be heard as a whole in one sitting. These songs carry each other from one to the next. They got each other’s backs, just like the five best friends who made them. You don’t just listen to a Twin Peaks album, you know it. It’s that something, up in the air at all times, never revealing itself, just hinting here and there. Twin Peaks lets that load down for you.

Here’s to the permanent impermanence. This one’s called Lookout Low, and it was nice knowing it.

Twin Peaks
Lookout Low
[Grand Jury]