Review of the Two Neighbors Debut EP
All photos are from the Two Neighbors Instagram page @twoneighborsmusic
Two Neighbors is an LA based duo whose music can be best described as hard pop or edgy alt-pop. After teasing Spotify listeners with a couple of singles for a while, they finally dropped their first EP on Friday, 8/28.
As wild and difficult as 2020 has been, it is nice to have some new music with a refreshing and different sound to enjoy. This five track EP is really delivering some edgy and rebellious vibes.
The first song on the EP titled Where I Wanna Be makes for a perfect intro to the energy they want to create. Easing into the song with a softer EDM sound and building up to a little more base, it really helps lead up to the suspense that the rest of the EP holds. The four songs following Where I Wanna Be welcome you into this party culture lifestyle and the harsh realities that come with it. Songs like Peace and Love and Little Mila really fuel that high energetic feeling of being confident and empowered. Little Mila serves as a great female empowerment song and brings me back to the freedom of being fully on my own and finally able to break out of my shell once I moved off to college and away from my hometown. This song shows the side of a sexually confident woman with a bit of an edge to her and I absolutely love how fired up it makes me feel. With Peace and Love, the lyrics are a bit cynical as they highlight some of the more phony sides to the people preaching “Peace & Love.” This song really highlights how easy it is to become cynical as a young person in this day and age and is really a testament to the times.
The other two songs, Back Then and Orange Rose seem to me to tell a story of a toxic relationship. Back Then seems to be about her remaining firm in not wanting to go back to the toxic relationship and trying to be secure in standing her ground against them luring themselves back in to start over the whole cycle. On the other hand, Orange Rose appears to tell another side to that. When listening to Orange Rose, I get a sense that the person is someone who you know is bad for you and you know it from the start but somehow you quickly slip into his or her trap and find yourself completely enthralled in the relationship. The line “I don’t need to de-thorn you, but it hurts to hold” makes me think of the type of relationship where you fall so hard that you are willing to put up with the hurt just to keep holding onto that idea of love with that person, despite the whole situation being completely toxic.
Of course all of these interpretations are my own but that is one of the things that makes music good, being able to interpret and relate to your own situations.
Overall, this EP delivers a high-energy look into the life of someone in their early 20s who is feeling fully free and experiencing all that they can. From the party culture to the toxic situations that come from getting too deep into that culture, this makes for a fun expression of life. This EP is a great piece for those who are now moving off to college, moving away from home to start a new life, someone who has recently found their independence, or maybe even someone who has since settled down and is in need of a little nostalgia from their wilder days.
This duo is one to watch in the alternative world and I look forward to seeing what their musical journey holds so go ahead and give them a listen.
