Twin Within takes the rock out of Hamilton music
Local avant-pop group combines with HPO for new album and concert
Steven McKay would like to help disabuse Hamilton of its reputation as a hard rock town. That’s exactly what he’s doing with his avant-pop project Twin Within.
Twin Within is based around the intricate melodies and acrobatic harmonies of McKay and Alex Samaras, backed by the production and cello of Kirk Starkey and the flute of Sarah Traficante.
Three years ago, Twin Within released a collection of eight songs on Hamilton’s Hidden Pony Records label and gained radio play with a song called “Bernie” in niche markets across North America, drawing comparisons to Simon and Garfunkel and Crosby, Stills and Nash.
McKay, the group’s primary songwriter, is taking the project a major step forward.
On Friday, April 27, the group is releasing a new record: “Twin Within Live-off-the-floor at Hamilton Place with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.”
They’ll be celebrating the album release on the same night with a concert, backed by an HPO ensemble of eight musicians at The Music Hall (formerly New Vision United Church).
A few years ago, McKay says he couldn’t imagine being able to play the music of Twin Within in front of a Hamilton audience. If you wanted to play music in this town, he says, you were expected to play loud rock.
Hamilton musicians wanting to stretch artistic boundaries — like jazz virtuoso David Braid and electronic guru Dan Snaith (Caribou) — had to leave town to do so.
But, McKay says, things have changed. He points to the success of the HPO’s Indie Series, which pairs orchestral ensembles with local folk, hip hop and rock acts.
“I think now we’re at the point where artists can do anything in Hamilton and there is a chance there will be an audience for it,” McKay, 35, says. “I didn’t feel like that when I was 19. Now I can do a show like this, and I’m not worried about it.”
McKay knows of what he speaks. He’s worked both the rock and the classical sides.
A graduate of Westdale Secondary School, McKay studied percussion at Queen’s University in Kingston and went on to become production manager of Toronto’s internationally renowned Tafelmusik baroque orchestra.
McKay also played in several rock bands, including The Deviance, High Kites and Bruce Peninsula. He currently plays drums in a local “yacht-rock” cover band called Skiffs.
Twin Within’s Hamilton Place project began in 2016 with McKay wanting to make a video in collaboration with the HPO of “Night Danger,” the group’s cottage-country take on the “Dead Man’s Curve” theme.
The group received a grant from the Ontario Music Fund for the project, and Chris Ledroit, a regular contributor to the HPO’s Indie Series, was hired to arrange the Twin Within songs for orchestra.
Once Hamilton Place (now called FirstOntario Concert Hall) and the eight-piece HPO ensemble were booked, it was decided to take advantage of the time and record as many Twin Within songs as possible.
In all, they managed to record seven tracks in just four hours, all live off the stage of Hamilton Place’s Great Hall.
“We did 30 minutes’ worth of material in four hours,” McKay says.
“Three takes for each song, in case there was a glaring issue in one of the performances.”
The album is being released in Canada and the United States, available on vinyl and CD, and as a download as a joint project of Hidden Pony Records and Centrediscs, the label of the Canadian Music Centre.
The April 27 concert will feature eight original Twin Within compositions, plus some classical works rearranged to fit the collaborative ensemble.
“We’re doing a Bach organ trio that will feature dueling electric 12-string guitars,” McKay says. “It’ll be something.”