Live Review: The Twees at The Knit

New York City’s The Twees play energetic pop’n’nroll featuring the clean, two-guitar-attack made popular by early 2000’s bands like Interpol and The Strokes. The fact that Jason Abrishami’s vocals are reminiscent of the casually relaxed style of Julian Casablancas further invites said comparisons. What matters most, however, is that this band writes some extremely hooky rock songs. Their recently released album "These Girls" is chock full of instantly likeable tunes. "On The Spot" recounts the travails of going out and partying every night. "I don’t think I can descend to this anymore," is the lament. "Fan Fiction" partners rat-a-tat snare drumming with sinewy guitar hooks. "You’re a fan of love, but you’re no lover. If it wasn’t me, it would be another," is the all too familiar tale of relationship shoppers, while the title track finds "These Girls" who "all seem like one" possibly covering the same sentiment Iggy Pop did, when he wrote "all the pretty girls, well they look the same." Additionally, catching a live Twees show (which I did recently at The Knitting Factory) is something of a transformative experience. Not content to merely deliver tightly crafted, energetic tunes (which they admirably do) the band invites anyone in the audience who wants (and I did) to come up on the stage with them and dance with reckless abandon while they play their generational anthem "Wishful Thinking Youth." All generations are welcome. It’s crazy fun, get their EP at thetwees.com and see them live in NYC at The Studio at Webster on 03.31.- Dave Cromwell