Watson Twins on 'Fire' After Jenny Lewis

Posted on Jun 5th 2008 12:00PM by Julia Simon
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Identical twins Chandra and Leigh Watson were vaulted into the indie limelight after supporting Jenny Lewis on their one-off 'Rabbit Fur Coat.' But the connection to Rilo Kiley's songstress shouldn't detract from what the Watson Twins are doing now on their own, not to mention their decade-long history of making and recording music. To wit: they grew up singing in church in their native Louisville, KY, gigged around their home base of Silver Lake with various musicians for years and released their bare-bones 2006 'Southern Manners' EP under the Watson Twins moniker. "Now everyone's been asking if we feel like our moment is here," Leigh tells Spinner. "We grew up singing with groups and we love singing back up, but now it's our time."

For all their effort spent upstage singing other peoples' tunes, the Watson Twins are proving to be prolific songwriters. For debut full-length, 'Fire Songs,' Chandra and Leigh penned 30 songs between the two of them, which they whittled down to a select eleven. "We had a handful of tracks that were either two acoustic guitars or really instrumental and they just didn't fit," Leigh says, explaining how they ultimately selected the album's line up. "But mostly, we didn't want to bore anyone with two hours of our music."

This folky set has enough going on to stave off ennui, though: there's a torchy slow-burner ('Only You'), a horn-fueled shuffle ('Map to Where You Are') and a loping, twangy cover of the Cure's 'Just Like Heaven.' But what each song does boast is an impressive warmth, which Leigh attributes to recording in analog at the studio Elliott Smith built (where there are, the singer reveals, "some definite ghosts in the boards.") And each track has a weighty narrative, exploring themes like emotional and physical bruises on 'Lady Love Me' or disengagement from an abusive relationship on 'Dig a Little Deeper.'

"These are story-telling songs, and not celebratory at that," Leigh explained. But, as the title alludes, they lend themselves to a fireside session. "These songs carry emotions that we all have, so they create this listening environment. We don't perform the songs so much as we share them."