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

Review of Twink CD & picture-book from News4U, Indiana

Toy piano music for the 00s! So much more than a mere CD, Boston musician Mike Langlie and friends, known collectively as Twink, have put together a truly fabulous package with this 25 song self-titled release. Remember the old storybook and record sets that had a sleeve on the back cover where the 45 fit? Twink catapults you back to those days with their inclusion of a 32 page illustrated tale along with the music. The disc itself is even designed to appear as those vinyl discs of yore once did. The rabbit featured in the wonderfully wrought story is a charming adventurer whose travels would be remarkable even without musical accompaniment.

Parlaying the whimsical charm of children's musical instruments like pianos, giggle sticks, and speak 'n' spells into delightful yet complex and compelling compositions cannot be as easy as Langlie makes it seem. Diverse and eclectic additional instruments such as a hurdy-gurdy, theremin, water glasses, musical saw, and so much more add a surreal and carnival flavor to the entire proceedings that is simultaneously endearing and vaguely unsettling.

"Hoppity Jones" opens the CD with an especially upbeat and innocent gait that corresponds nicely with the personality of the book's cartoon bunny. The gobble of a See'n' Say turkey heard in "Do You Hear The Frog?" will no doubt sound familiar. However, not all the songs portray innocent childlike enthusiasm. Indeed, there is a level of sophistication in tracks like "Sand and Fire" and "Whoop-de-doodle" that belies the relative simplicity of the instruments. Things even turn decidedly dark in the last handful of songs, beginning with the transitional "Cloud Watcher" and moving into the genuinely ominous "The Edge of Darkness" and beyond.

The appeal of this rag-tag thrift store toy bin orchestra is undeniable. Don't even try.

5 out of 5 stars

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