Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks kicks off the new year with a five-track EP that weaves pop, prog, no-wave and grunge into a tapestry that tells a tale of the group’s creativity and technical proficiency. On “Noir Echoes,” which clocks in at a hearty seven and a half minutes, the hard-rocking refrain plunges into moody depths and then builds into an eye-crossing guitar solo shredded atop gristly slabs of bass. The closing track, “Still Life,” might be the album’s strongest cut, with a spaghetti-Western-worthy intro segueing into melodic-shoegaze-on-caffeine verses. It’s clear the band has grown since 2011’s Oolaroo; the playing is noticeably more cohesive, with the guys shedding some of the earlier album’s more pronounced post-punk influences for a more measured, technical approach. Perhaps the most notable difference is in the recording itself, which has the layers of guitars, drums and bass more equitably and crisply spaced.