Shapeshifting trio Vanishing Twin present their new album Archives, a collage of postmodern songcraft that finds transcendence in the shared experience of creation. The album’s title alludes to Vanishing Twin’s distinctive approach of listening to, piecing together and reworking daily recording sessions. Founding member Cathy Lucas describes the process as “gathering material together, riffing with it, turning it around on itself, trying to put the pieces together and create a story with it”. With Lucas now relocated to rural France, and Valentina Magaletti and Susumu Mukai in London, the three connected by swapping songs and fragments of instrumentals in a virtual studio space. Geographic distance is bridged by their hivemind creativity, with multi-instrumentalist input from each member. Each player brings a wide experience of collaboration and improvisation, with listening back and editing studio sessions an integral part of the creative process. Concepts of authorship and ownership dissolve in Vanishing Twin’s music, as members swap instruments and lose themselves in the collaborative moment. The archives of the album title become documents of the trio’s collective intelligence. The chaotic energy of Archives pushes Vanishing Twin into unfamiliar shapes and directions. Out of their comfort zones, the trio find new moments of enlightenment and delight. Deep in the mix, you might hear Magaletti picking up the bass, Mukai unexpectedly sitting in on drums, or Lucas slipping chameleon-like between the gaps. Archives refines Vanishing Twin’s model of collective music making, where egos are dispelled in playful games of mix and match, and creativity flows between the three multi-instrumentalists. Operating between and outside conventional categories of genre, they sit alongside fellow travellers such as Tara Clerkin Trio and Still House Plants, stretching the idea of the contemporary music ensemble. A decade into their existence, Vanishing Twin are more mercurial than ever.
