Twin Terrace's debut Plural is among the most promising Irish releases we've heard in some time - and we're not alone in thinking that. Ireland's musical press have been equivocal in their praise for Twin Terrace (read some of that here) and, in our humble opinions at least, the word-of-mouth is very much deserved. entertainment.ie music editor John Balfe caught up with Gavin Redmond for a quick chat about the band.

Twin Terrace will feature in entertainment.ie's second eLive gig in The Mercantile on Thursday 22nd November, along with Bantum, VerseChorusVerse and Empire Saints.

Tickets are completely free, but you must reserve online at entertainment.ie/tickets.

I understand that Plural was composed, performed and recorded by yourself. Was this as difficult a task as it sounds?

It was fun, I was free to break all the rules. But, as it was my first project behind the mixing desk, I wasn't that familiar with the rules to begin with. In the end, I half expected the mastering engineer to tell me he had nothing to work with. I invited some guest musicians to perform parts so the record would have different energies running through it.

Have the songs changed at all, from when they were initially written to the versions we'll see on stage at eLive this Thursday?

The songs sound leaner live. We take a fairly direct route through them, so we don't have to swap instruments all night. I don't tell the band what to play either, so that changes things up.

 

The advancement of technology allows it for musicians like you to record and distribute music, largely using only a computer. Do you think that this provides a good opportunity for independent musicians to subvert the traditional methods of music distribution?

I didn't feel particularly subversive when I uploaded Plural to Bandcamp and iTunes, but yeah, the MP3 is responsible for a lot! I placed the CD with independent shops too, like Wingnut, Elastic Witch and Tower. These avenues are wide open, a band doesn't have to ask for permission to get going.

We first became aware of Twin Terrace in the lead-up to this year's Hard Working Class Heroes festival. Was the association with that festival a benefit to you?

I loved being part of HWCH. There's a real curiosity towards acts playing the festival. We played to a new audience, and we met great people.

What does 2013 hold for Twin Terrace?

As soon as Plural came out I started thinking about the next record and writing music. I want it to be my 'Meat Is Murder'. We've demoed ten songs, and we're pretty far along with them. A 2013 release would be nice. 

Don't miss your change to see Twin Terrace completely free on Thursday!