Monalisa Twins - When We're Together (2012)

The MonaLisa Twins, with real-life twins Mona and Lisa Wagner fronting the band, are one of the very few modern groups who continue the tradition of song-writing that took off in 1963. They bring back what has been started 60 years ago and write modern songs in the 60s Beat music tradition, reviving the genre with a fresh twist without sounding pop-ish or trivial. Their signature features are their tight twin harmonies, unaltered natural voices, relatable lyrics, twangy guitar sounds and inventive arrangements.

On their debut album When We’re Together, which they recorded at the mere age of 16, they present finest Rock ‘n’ Roll and Beat music, skillfully venturing out in Psychedelic, Folk and Latin genres, inspired by the likes of The Beatles, Bob Dylan or Simon & Garfunkel.

In comparison, their follow-up albums ORANGE and WHY? give a more mature, sometimes satirical, yet overall still light-hearted approach to topics we all deal with. Love, community, doubt, the past and future, and the generally unsettling direction society seems to be taking. While staying true to quirky, melodic 60s song-writing, plenty of harmonies and twangy guitar licks, these albums branch out into more psychedelic but also earthy, bluesy, even jazzy and funky tones for a very experimental, tongue-in-cheek side of the MonaLisa Twins.

While listening to and playing all different kinds of music genres in our youth, we stayed with the 60s song-writing, something we think is way too much neglected these days. We wanted to write and play music that had the magic and the same impact on people that those classic tracks had on us.