“Two Birds” by Sister. – Album thoughts
In 2023, Sister. released their debut album, Abundance, but the musical partnership between Hannah Pruzinsky and Ceci Sturman go way further back. In 2020 and 2021, the duo released two EPs, Soft Spot and Something / Nothing. And going further back, they had been college roommates, even collaborating on one of Sturman’s music assignments together. In 2020, they added James Chrisman to the band. With all that time as collaborators, roommates, friends, and more together, the intricacies of those types of relationships have become a focal point for Sister.’s music.
Two Birds continues to look at those complexities, especially as the realities of life change around them. In an interview, Sturman says they “wrote Two Birds on the night we moved out of our old apartment to live apart from each other for the first time in 9 years.” Those types of raw feelings radiate throughout the record – the constant shifts, the uncertainty, the emotion. It’s all so powerful and Sister. capture it beautifully.
Musically, Two Birds is folk on its surface. The record was produced by Felix Walworth of Told Slant & Florist, who also plays drums for Sister. “Blood in the Vines” is a haunting, and utterly captivating opening. “Honey” gets heavier with more distortion, some heavier drumming, and some real tense moments as the song builds. The folkier tracks put Pruzinsky and Sturman’s songwriting on full display, the honesty, the intensity, the emotion of tracks like “Patient Guy” and “Two Moons”. It just sets us up for an eruption of cathartic release as things get heavier.
Catharsis, it’s a word that’s used to describe a lot of the music I’ve covered over the years – it’s the release that draws me to my favorite music. The greatest artists and records take listeners through these incredible, immersive, and oftentimes intense journeys. The ebbs and flows of life encapsulated on disc, and Sister. achieve it so brilliantly. The title track just overwhelms the listener by its conclusion, it’s like Sturman and Pruzinsky didn’t have a choice but to add the beautiful, atmospheric “Star Interlude” immediately after. Especially considering what it sets up next.
It’s hard to think of a song as powerful this year as “Piece of Silver”. It’s a slow build, with some brutally honest lyrics, vividly describing a relationship, mostly one-sided, where the other end keeps hiding scraps to hang onto. Jarringly, the tone shifts, it’s distorted, an amalgamation of feeling emotion trying to bubble to the surface, but the song’s closing moments repeat the chorus with only a faint hit of the harshness of just moments earlier.
After that moment, Two Birds leads listeners down for a comparatively soft landing. Hypnotically repeating “For a while I for a while I for a while I held on to control” during “Power”. The duo don’t have much to say on “Levity”, repeating just four lines throughout the track. However, its opening moments feature interference, and the harmonies get more and more out of sync, repeating, echoing, distorting. The record closes with “Star”, which is the most intimate track on a record full of them. It captures a morning, sirens in the background. A search to find normalcy in emotion and our human form; finding meaning in the record’s final moments.
“Mouths for eating words for logic
Bodies for dancing, hands for holding“
Two Birds is such a powerful record from start to finish. The trio of Sturman, Pruzinsky and Chrisman capture the complex nature of relationships, not just romantic ones, ones between collaborators, friends. It captures the highs, the lows, the contemplative moments in between. It’s as human as a record can get.
Two Birds is out now on Mtn Laurel Recording Co.
Listen: Bandcamp / Physical / Streaming
Connect with Sister.: insta
Hannah Pruzinsky: insta
Ceci Sturman: insta
James Chrisman: insta
Felix Walworth: insta
