SXSW 2010: Twin Sister, Galaxy Room, Austin

manage to fill Galaxy Room’s cavernous concert hall with a flick of their fingers. The keyboard grounded group turn the empty space into an admirable amplifier, bouncing layers of their surprisingly complex compositions into and around their audience.

The best part of SXSW is that, pulling out the stops, the noise ordinances and traditional ideas of neighborliness, the sound system is finally allowed to triumph, echoing a long refrain along the streets. The sounds coalesce, and the result is anything but pretty. But picking among the scraps, there are very often gems. Twin Sister proves that. At a festival often characterizing itself in its lack of subtlety, the heavy, simple bass lines and a shredded guitar strings, the simple, thoughtful offerings of a band like Twin Sister comes as a welcome reprieve.

Wrapping up their set they seem relieved as well.