Over the past week, the LA act Twin Temple have gotten a whole lot more famous. The duo, comprised of married couple Alexandra and Zachary James, have a kitschy take on early-'60s pop music, which they combine with lyrics about Satanic blood orgies. After being booked to open a pair of shows on outlaw country star Charley Crockett's current Age Of The Ram tour, Crockett dropped the duo from those shows over their Satanic imagery. Jack White stepped in, inviting Twin Temple to open for him at the Hollywood Palladium, and the duo gratefully accepted. This whole episode got a whole lot of ink, so it's really not surprising that Twin Temple have chosen this moment to announce a new album. It's what Satan would want.
This fall, Twin Temple will follow their 2023 LP God Is Dead with a new full-length called Doomed Lovers. They recorded the new one with producer Shooter Jennings, Waylon's son, at Hollywood's Sunset Sound studios. (As it happens, Jennings also produced A Mile South Of Heaven, the forthcoming album that Jess Williamson announced earlier this morning.) In laying the record down, they used analog recording equipment and a 37-piece orchestra, as well as ace session musicians like Matt Chamberlain and Jay Bellerose.
When I described Twin Temple's sound as "doo-wop" last week, one concerned reader wrote in to clarify that they don't really make doo-wop. This is true, even though their 2018 debut album is literally called Twin Temple (Bring You Their Signature Sound... Satanic Doo-Wop). The title track from Doomed Lovers is the same kind of shimmering, romantic old-school pop pastiche that you might expect from She & Him, except with very different lyrical themes. In a press release, Twin Temple talk about the song like this:
This is the philosophical centerpiece of the album — a theatrical and confessional take on all or nothing love, the dark side of devotion and centuries old mythic literary Romantic themes. It longs for a love so enduring and eternal that it ultimately consumes, obliterates, and drives one to madness and death. At its core, it asks the question — "What happens when your lover dies?"
But what makes the song unique is that it rejects the conventional and culturally accepted answer… "I know I should tell you to find someone new," in favor of raw, unfiltered and selfish desire, things that would be shameful to speak in mundane reality.
In addition to the new album, Twin Temple have announced a few upcoming headlining shows, along with their previously announced dates opening for Danzig. Their show with Jack White isn't confirmed yet. In a new Rolling Stone interview, they say that their show with Danzig in Anaheim has a radius clause but they're "trying to work it out." Below, check out "Doomed Lovers," the album's tracklist, and their itinerary.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Doomed Lovers"
02 "Possessed"
03 "I Want Blood"
04 "Love You To Death"
05 "Haunt Me"
06 "Someone In The Walls"
07 "Monster"
08 "Nothing Matters"
TOUR DATES:
9/08 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
9/11 – San Antonio, TX @ Boeing Center at Tech Port *
9/12 – Houston, TX @ Bayou Music Center *
9/14 – New Orleans, LA @ Fillmore *
9/16 – Oklahoma, OK @ Beer City Music Hall
9/17 – Springfield, MO @ The Regency Live
9/18 – Nashville, TN @ The Pinnacle *
9/20 – Grand Prairie, TX @ Texas Trust Credit Union *
9/22 – Tucson, AZ @ La Rosa
9/26 – Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center *
* with Danzig
Doomed Lovers is out 10/9 on Twin Temple's own Pentagrammaton label. Pre-order it here.
