New Twinkle Twinkles: “Summer”

Nostalgia is a tricky thing. Everyone wants to dismiss it (or the idea of it), at least when it fits their feelings, but the moment something emerges that touches on some fantasized past, the same people are drooling over themselves. But a little bit of reflection — of thinking back on simpler times (maybe with the less pleasant bits edited out) — isn’t a bad thing. It’s really quite natural, as you get older.

Twinkle Twinlkes were a band from Osaka, one whose heyday coincided with my six months spent living in said city. They didn’t do anything particularly complex — they played a sort of Tiger Trap-ish type of indie-pop, featuring a healthy amount of feedback. But they popped up at a lot of indie shows in the city, and I recall seeing them multiple times, at live houses that were basically home basements, selling Budweiser and featuring checkered tiles on the floor. They sort of vanished, but out of nowhere they’ve come back — well, this version of Twinkle Twinkles doesn’t look quite the same as when I first wrote about them, and this edition seemingly exists out of London (which, sure, bends this blog’s focus…but nostalgia, right?). And they return with the direct and catchy “Summer,” a simple but hooky number that does everything I remember the group doing back when Kansai seemed new and massive. It drives forward, it features something approaching optimism and, despite being pretty straightforward, come up with something that sticks with you. Watch the video below.