Photo of Nova Twins by Nicole Chen
The groundbreaking duo that is Nova Twins has been astounding listeners for about a decade now. With their fusion of punk, electronic, and hip hop styles, one never knows what to expect at the turn of vocalist/guitarist Amy Love and bassist Georgia South’s musical corners. Their new album Parasites & Butterflies only intensifies their signature sound of force and passion in both aesthetic and instrumentation.
First song “Glory” lives up to its lofty name, beginning with in-your-face, oscillating guitar notes that go into a synthy, quick drum beat. Love’s vocals then lift the moment up with further electronic tones, going from a low pitch to high notes with the lyrics, “Glory, hallelujah! Save you from yourself.” We enter the developing cyberpunk world that is Parasites & Butterflies. Slowing down for that stretched-out chorus piece and the later bridge section, in contrast with the more rapid-energy verses, Nova Twins prepare to strike and astound the listener with what happens in the second half of the song — an assertive chant among headbanging, charged drums.
“Monsters” sets the album off with an eruption of electricity that goes into elegant yet harsh singing. As the first single in anticipation of the LP, Nova Twins gave the first look into this new era of thunder and lightning. The band sings, “I’m not afraid of monsters, but I’m afraid of myself. You promised me heaven, but this feels like hell […] Stuck in an illusion, crying for help.” The combination of a cyberpunk soundscape and these kinds of lyrics feels like an episode of Black Mirror, though much more energetic.
Intense and beautiful contrasts lead Parasites & Butterflies, and the album’s second single and fourth track “Soprano” proves this notion in its instrumentation and lyrics. It combines a rap pattern for the verses with a sense of electronic, slow metal in the background. The chorus becomes dainty in vocals and repeats in the ending of the song with vocalizations that rely on cyberpunky synths and marching snare drums. This duo has always relied on delicious bass in their tracks, which they mention in the lines of “Soprano,” “I like to stay high, feel that bass down low. Frequency melt your brain like whoa.” And with lyrics like “I can be sexy, cute, devilish, intelligent — mood swings, I can be passive aggressive, yeah. I can be your enemy or give you all the best of me,” Nova Twins directly describe that contradiction and complexity that drives this work.
Track six “N.O.V.A.,” obviously including part of the artist’s name, involves a fun, light rap pattern, classically combined with heavy guitars and eclectic percussive sounds. Something that Nova Twins wanted to capture with this album and new chapter in their creative career was humanity — “We wanted to showcase something deeply human; how vulnerability can be as empowering as it is revealing in its honesty.” In “N.O.V.A.,” they casually sing, “You’re only living life when you tell your truth,” a blunt, very real message on that very topic.
Parasites & Butterflies ends with “Black Roses,” which has a dancey beat in its verses and a much heavier chorus. Continuing on the idea of contrast, one line sings, “something so lovely can be terrifying. I’m the devil with the angel wings.” Throughout the entire LP, they play with the conjunction of what is beautiful and of nature but has a perhaps hidden danger.
This raw third record from Nova Twins ends with metallic guitars that go into haunting vocalizations and a repeat of the chorus in which they sing, “Black roses, black roses, so deadly, can poison. My shadow says, ‘Hello.’ Black roses in your garden.” Amy Love and Georgia South have proven that they can not only handle complex instrumental pieces, but that they can also work metaphorical, contrasting concepts with finesse. | Krista Spies
Nova Twins’ Parasites & Butterflies will be released on Friday, August 29.
