Twink, the Toy Piano Band! Twink, the Toy Piano Band!

Review of A Very Fine Adventure from Performer Magazine

The packaging on Twink's A Very Fine Adventure allows the listener/manipulator to decide the fate of three pink bunny rabbits floating in a hot air balloon. There are songs on the album called "I Heart Rainbows," "Dustmuffin" and, of course, "3 Bunnies in A Balloon." Twinkling toy piano is laced throughout bleeping, phasing synths to create constantly evolving soundscapes backed by makeshift percussive explosions over steady backbeats. It's sweeping, majestic and innocent — a complete indulgence in whimsy and a positive derivation of Jon Brion's poptronica a la I Heart Huckabees. And all the above fancy talk is basically me trying to say that this album is cute in the best way possible.

For each installment in the adventure, Twink chooses one musical phrase and builds from there, adding jarring levels of toy instruments to form sweeping movements. The toy piano is never entirely in tune with the backing rhythms, creating an organic feel in an electric environment. The atonal clash of piano on computer turns otherwise beaming songs into something slightly deranged, like a shadow creeping at the horizon on a sunny day.

"Toadstool Tea" is a romantic gondola ride through the waterways of Venice, with bouncing accordion punctuated by irregular percussive hits before breaking into a synth-led bridge, again sounding like a track from Brion's I Heart Huckabees soundtrack. "What the Dickens" belongs on Manitoba's first album — strings cut between channels until a frantic, dark-city rave drum beat hits, reinventing the song while increasingly cacophonous percussion joins the fray.

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