Twin Fog at the Penthouse at the Standard Hotel, East Village

Sebastian Blanck

Sebastian Blanck was born in New Haven, Connecticut, and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1998 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2002, he has shown his art in solo exhibitions and group shows. Blanck similarly captures his view of the world via songwriting. He released a folk-influenced solo album in 2010 entitled Alibi Coast. As Blanck was developing new songs to record for what he originally intended to be another solo album, he found his musical soul mates and instead formed the New York City-based Twin Fog in 2013. The band is comprised of Blanck on vocals and guitar, Chris Robertson on guitars, keyboards and vocals, Richard Baluyut on bass, and Joey Bouchard on drums. Twin Fog's debut album, The 8th Year, will be released in 2016.

Twin Fog performed its second concert ever, and the first in New York, tonight at the Penthouse at the Standard Hotel. Blanck retained his signature pop sound in this band, but the input from the other musicians allowed for edgier song constructions, including augmented countermelodies and deeper grooves. The lyrics were canvases featuring portraits of people, capturing emotional relationships and animating them through driving pop rock music. The marriage of art sensibilities with musical rhythms charmed like a tender embrace, but the bottom line is that the listener would have to be a fan of pop music to enjoy Twin Fog's new art.