A good friend of mine has two siblings: his twin brother, and their older sister. I remember the older sister saying once that when the three of them were kids, there were times when her younger brothers would sometimes drift off into what she called “twin world.”
This was a world in which the twins communicated with each other in a way that even she, who had known them from the moment they were born, didn’t have access to. They would talk in half-sentences and chopped syllables, and then burst into laughter, each twin having clearly understood exactly what the other had been getting at.
I’ve often wondered what it must be like as a twin, to be able to hop on the same train of thought seemingly at will like that. I’ve also wondered if the genetic overlap would be helpful or detrimental to artistic collaboration between twins. Would it be restricting to have someone whose artistic instincts were so similar to your own? Or would it streamline the whole process?
For Lisa and Naomi Diaz, the French twin duo known as Ibeyi, the relationship seems to work pretty well. This is the opening track from their 2017 LP Ash, and gives it gives the listener a glimpse into what music can sound like in twin world.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. It fades in on an enigmatic, hypnotic, almost spooky looped sample from a Bulgarian choir. It’s not sung in English, but I swear I can hear them singing the words “this moment.”
2. The only lyrics sung by the twins, “I carried this for years,” give the song an unrelenting, on-the-warpath type of feel. It’s a great opener, as Lisa explained in an interview: “It was evident that this should be the first track as we feel that the album is about subjects that we carried for years in our bellies.”
3. The pounding percussion, which enters with less than 30 seconds left, makes me wish the track would continue for at least another minute. But hey, who am I to question decisions made in twin world?
Recommended listening activity:
Standing back-to-back with a full-length mirror.
This song was suggested by a reader. Thanks, Jill!