REVIEW: Twin Atlantic - Separation From The Animals
For the past 13 years, Scottish band TWIN ATLANTIC have created a legacy of 70s inspired hooks, explosive breakdowns, and sentiments that range from the deepest inner turmoils to having a night out with your mates. They’re an established act within the alt-rock scene that’s seen them take on countless headline tours, support slots and festival appearances, amassing a following with each show they do. Yet, for all their work, their latest album Separation From The Animals is undoubtedly their most brutally honest work to date, an album that sees them baring their souls, embracing old friends, and sounds like TWIN ATLANTIC at their most refined.
With a monumental career holding them high, there was uncertainty of the band’s direction after their 2024 release Meltdown with lead singer and guitarist Sam McTrusty moving to Canada to start a new life with his family, while bassist and backing vocals Ross McNae remained in the UK, sowing more doubt for fans and McTrusty himself as he grappled with a creative block and the concerns that being so far away from the band might hinder him further. In a twist, his steadfast decision to focus on his family on the other side of the world instead stirred inspiration and forced him to confront his upbringing and the feeling of never quite having a fixed home between separated parents.
It had always been a topic touched on in the band’s music history, McTrusty describing his initial feelings as “I found my tribe, my people, my band. My entire adult life is meant to have been looking ahead but my personal life is always looking back. That baggage is basically what the whole band is about.” But Separation From The Animals takes this so much further, McTrusty feeling more emotionally mature to truly delve into his feelings and how the entirety of TWIN ATLANTIC has healed him and sparked a renewed love. More than this, the album miraculously reunited McTrusty and McNae with founding drummer Craig Neale, bringing his intricacy and powerfully-driven beats to two of the more vulnerable tracks, and saw founding and touring member Barry McKenna contributing to the quintessential TWIN ATLANTIC sound, making this the first album the original four-piece had worked on since 2021’s Transparency album.
Separation From The Animals doesn’t just call back to the band members’ individual histories; snippets throughout call to mind some of their most memorable work that put them on the map, notably in addictive anthem Don’t Quit It with bone-rattling bass, the familiar rhythms and vocal cadence, and unmistakable guitar hooks that are the pure essence of TWIN ATLANTIC. Opening track Your, The End and follow up track I’m Not Coming Home are a sign of the band’s softer side that’s appeared throughout their discography, Strong in particular taking a much more personal and uplifting approach while holding onto the strength felt in their harder-hitting tracks. Save Your Breath performs a dramatic twist from an acoustic intro and McTrusty’s smooth lower register, before symphonic strings and drums elevate it into a heartfelt affirmation that could be toward his family, his bandmates, or the person he’s grown into.
Meanwhile, the emotion pitches and swells on In Your Eyes and Confidant against heavier, racing beats and defiant lyrics, the thumping rhythms utilised on Unless It Hurts but at a slower pace that borders the track between weighty triumph and heart-rending declarations as the vocals reach higher pitches. The Risk Of Love Is Always Loss is a transcendental experience, stripped back entirely to McTrusty’s cresting vocals and McNae’s keys the blend melancholy and hope together, the band’s emotions completely exposed to the listener; its antithesis is found in Supersweetness, with vibrant instrumentals and gratifying lyrics set to a rhythm stronger than a sugar craving. Lost has a deceptive intro that drops key but soon transforms into a substantial track that brings minimal, but authentic, lyrics and centres the focus more on the woven instrumentals, fading into finale Feel It All and the closure it brings to the album and the listener.
Separation From The Animals is, in the simplest of terms, a love letter. It’s a love letter to the past and the wounded, confused, and frustrated people that TWIN ATLANTIC started out with; it’s an ode to who they are now and their unshakeable friendship; it’s a tribute to their families, their loved ones, and the fans who have stayed with them; it’s a declaration from McTrusty to his daughters that is told from the opening notes. It’s a testament that TWIN ATLANTIC are pushing their limits and explorations but still staying true to their roots.
Score: 8/10
Separation From The Animals will be released on 2nd October via Dance To The Radio.
Words: Julia Stark
Photos: Steve Gullick
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