In half a decade of banddom, Twen masterminds Jane Fitzsimmons and Ian Jones have only released two albums. The first, 2019’s Awestruck, came out on an indie label, but the latest, One Stop Shop, is a genuinely independent effort, released after they not only regrouped, but wholly reimagined how they operate, puzzling through how to outfit their van in a manner worthy of survivalists, but suited to a hard-touring act doing it all on their own, production to PR.
The music they created in this newly improvised reality is anything but aimless. They’ve taken in the potency, economy and nervy bite of power-pop and Britpop predecessors, and their new songs aim some hearty skepticism at capitalism, convention and other constricting forces through gleaming, momentous hooks, taut guitar lines and Fitzsimmons’ shrewd, sharp, full-throated vocals.
For WNXP, she and Jones assembled a playlist that spans the mid-‘80s up through their own era. They described it in an email as consisting of, “Songs that bring us to the edge,” and specified that that includes “Heavy BritPop energy with legends and current faves,” as well as “Lenny Kravitz homage.”
