{"id":8323,"date":"2011-09-21T07:00:45","date_gmt":"2011-09-21T11:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/?p=8323"},"modified":"2017-04-15T07:16:27","modified_gmt":"2017-04-15T11:16:27","slug":"midweek-music-break-shook-twins-rose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2011\/09\/midweek-music-break-shook-twins-rose\/","title":{"rendered":"Midweek Music Break: Shook Twins, “Rose”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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[No, I don’t know what the deal is with the egg. Clearly this is either (a) a sisterly in-joke or (b) an object of powerfully mystical significance. Maybe a little of both.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Simply presented with the lyrics to The Shook Twins’ song “Rose,” absent the music, a discerning reader might figure it as some sort of magical-realist allegory of a girl’s growing up, discovering what it meant to be herself, and casting off convention to leave childhood (and home) behind. The free-flowing, unstructured lines, absence of consistent rhyme and meter, phantasmagorical imagery — it all suggests something crafted in the 1960s by, oh, say, Donovan<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Rose<\/em><\/strong>
\n(The Shook Twins)<\/em><\/p>\n

Rose was born in the country but she dreamt of the sea
\nShe lives with the best friend of a cobbler\u2019s son
\nWhere they take care of their own<\/p>\n

She walks freely through the farm missing feathers from her plume
\nPushed from the flock she knows so she eats alone
\nBest friend on her own
\nAnd does she know that she has a soul?
\nAnd does she know where we all go?<\/p>\n

Rose tucks her head in dark feathers to keep from the storm
\nShe sits silent on the front porch watching it all go
\nAnd the fire burns
\nAnd the garden grows
\nAnd the children play
\nThrough the orchard\u2019s moans<\/p>\n

One day Rose left her porch and found the water running free
\nShe jumped right in, tucked her feet and took that river to the sea
\nHow does she know where we all go?
\nAnd how does she know that she has a soul?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

[Lyrics reproduced here courtesy of the Shook Twins.]<\/em><\/p>\n

And check out that picture at the top of this post. Mirrors, lantern light, floral-print dresses, long straight hair, the egg<\/em>: more evidence, right? It’s not hard to imagine the Twins as feminist-folkie sorceresses embodying the spirits of Flower Children.<\/p>\n

But hold on — what about the music<\/em>? From the Bio page at their site<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Shook Twins are not your average folk duo. The sisters, Laurie and Katelyn, have some tricks up their sleeves.<\/p>\n

You wouldn’t expect a small town girl from North Idaho (Sandpoint) to drop a beatbox in the middle of a song. Katelyn plays the guitar, glockenspiel, mandolin, sings opera into a telephone… Laurie plays wah-wah banjo, bass, ocarina, percussion and loops various melodies and beats to make it sound like more than just two identical twin sisters. Together they sing in twin harmony, which is a whole different experience from non-twin harmony.<\/p>\n

Their sound is sculpted from the artists who inspired them most such as: The Beatles, Ani DiFranco, Joni Mitchell, Feist and Bjork.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh my. Wait until you hear all this swirled together with those lyrics… and see the Shook Twins in action.<\/p>\n