You are using an outdated browser. For a faster, safer browsing experience, upgrade for free today.

Loading...

At least a hundred fingers

Our second album, At least a hundred fingers, was released on 8th October 2021.

A certain amount changed between 'Zero Crossing' and 'At least a hundred fingers'. Mark left - not due to differences, musical or otherwise, just life stuff - and in the meantime Harry and Charlie kept writing. There was also a complete change of writing/recording process. Whilst for the first record the majority of the synth lines were recorded as MIDI, messed around with there, and then bounced down as audio at the last possible moment, advances in computer processing speed and hard drives meant that, for this second record, almost everything was recorded live, at least initially, and then edited, folded, spindled and mutilated until we had the thing we were happy with. Then the world-wide Covid pandemic got going during the final year of recording, and meant that the album had to be largely finished remotely, with Charlie and Harry recording final parts and bouncing them back and forth to each other via email, and Francesca and Susanne recording their parts from their own home studios.

While the album nods to Drum and Bass, amongst a myriad other sub-genres of electronic music, each track carves its own unique sonic space, imagining alternative worlds of their own. Tilt/Shift, for example, starts off in Drum and Bass territory, before veering off to something like a cross between a Berlin-school/"Sinner Man" sound-world, albeit running at 174 BPM. The live lead vocal from mezzo-soprano Francesca Genco floats on top, fusing Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Asian vocal styles. Second track Asha, the name taken from the Sanskrit word for hope or desire, showcases Harry’s guitar playing with a mixture of Indian and Blues influences. Floe is built from a variety of field recordings including concrete and Californian wildfires tuned to A♭minor, starting slowly before the tempo doubles and a more Drum and Bass section takes over. Buchla Space nods to Dub, although with the rather un-Dubby time signature of 7/8 for the final third, and fuses East and West in the lead violin line, wonderfully played by world-renowned soloist and chamber musician Susanne Stanzelei.

‘At Least a Hundred Fingers’ is a real aural pleasure – a vibrant collection of evocative soundscapes that are melodic and immersive yet refuse to conform to any script or style. Ambient, techno, drum and bass, world music, prog rock and psychedelia: there are echoes of everything to be found within the sonic landscapes created by Twofish but in this album, something powerful and unique has been created.

...a soaring female voice wafts on the cosmos, as the rhythm disappears and the thing changes shape into some kind of operatic cosmic universe.

From the innovative drums, to the relentlessly addictive electro-atmospheres that they create, “Buchla Space” provides one last deep dive into a unique realm of sound that Twofish should be seriously proud of – the world needs a LOT more of these guys – At Least A Hundred Fingers is full proof this band is as creative as they come.

Credits

All tracks written, performed and produced by Twofish, who are:
Harry Richardson: Keyboards, Guitars, Bass
Charlie Humble: Keyboards, Didgeridoo

Additional musicians:
Francesca Genco: Vocals on Tilt/Shift
Susanne Stanzeleit: Violin on Buchla Space 
Amy Gedgaudas: Vocal sample on Straylight

All tracks mixed by Harry Richardson
Recorded at Twofish’s studio in Essex, UK

Mastered by Emily Lazar & Chris Allgood at The Lodge NY  
Cover photo: Arturo Bejar

Zero Crossing

Our first full-length album. Released in 2014 it comprises all our favourite tunes from 14+ years of working together, properly mixed and mastered. It has earned critical praise from the likes of Santa Sangre and flaechenklang, as well as some lovely reviews via Amazon.

Atmospheric and adventurous, these two words are what describe them best. Every second is designed to lure you into the next and if that isn’t the bare bones maxim of top grade songwriting then I don’t know what is.

If the killer mixing and the groovy ambient techno don't strike you as standout, then the beautifully wistful instrumentation and raw, organic guitar lines will hook you. Really, give it a shot.

As well as being played in clubs all over the world, tracks from Zero Crossing appear on a couple of compilations. 'Deep Bass 9' features on Whirl-Y-Waves Vol. 3, prompting Richard Morley to write on Amazon "..finally, and fittingly, Twofish, a group that first frequented Whirl-Y-Gig back in the Shoreditch days, round off this excursion with a mix of acoustic guitar and deep, squelchy beats in their aptly titled 'Deep Bass 9' ". Berlin was featured in the soundtrack for the Llamasoft game TxK.

Unsurprising for something that took this long, but we have so many memories tied up in the making of this record.

Three people fretting one guitar thanks to the unexpected modulation that somehow happened in Times Tablas when we weren't paying attention. Saucepans full of water trying to get the percussion right. Barn on the sitar. The hard drive you can hear clunking away at the end. The magic of hearing Heather’s voice on the Magic Fruit for the first time. Turning ground hum that we couldn't get rid of into part of the drum loop. The amazing story Mark recorded somewhere in Africa that became the spoken voice on 'No Problems'. The wonderful, languid feel we got with the very odd time signature on No Problems. Finding audio from the space shuttle for Radio Columbia and how amazing that sounded when we dropped it in. Hearing the MOTM for the first time doing the main riff. Hearing Harry's university project - Audio Architect - doing bass on Deep Bass 9. Swearing at Cubase. A lot. Particularly after it crashed corrupting the file for Deep Bass 9. Also playing Worms. Also a lot.

Credits

Twofish:
Harry Richardson: Keyboards, Guitars
Charlie Humble: Keyboards
Mark Chitty: Keyboards

Additional musicians:
Heather: Soprano vocal on The Magic Fruit
Wee Alice: Violin on The Magic Fruit
Barn: Sitar on Times Tablas
Bill: Additional guitar on Times Tablas
Alida: Cello on Times Tablas
 
All tracks written, performed and produced by Twofish except Berlin (Richardson/Humble). 

Mastered at: The Lodge NYC
Mastering Engineer: Emily Lazar
Assistant Engineer: Rich Morales
 
Cover photo: James Warwick