#two ribbons

[all-or-nothing-baby]

let's

[dustedmagazine]

Let’s Eat Grandma — Two Ribbons (Transgressive)

Photo by El Hardwick

It feels like the last few years weren’t supposed to go like this for Let’s Eat Grandma. 2018’s I’m All Ears was a triumph, an album made only more impressive by the fact that its auteurs were teenagers. Jenny Hollingworth and Rosa Walton were getting good reviews and audiences, not to mention living out the dream of many by being in a band with their best friend from early childhood. The factors that make the new Two Ribbons less a victory lap and more a hard-fought new peak in the duo’s oeuvre are a combination of the achingly quotidian and the nightmarishly rare. On the one hand, as their teen years were ending, the pair, friends since age four, found themselves on slightly different wavelengths for the first time (recalibrating from which, as anyone with long-lasting enough childhood friendships can attest, can be a painful and tricky process). And on the other Hollingworth’s boyfriend died at the age of 22. Amazingly enough, Two Ribbons is neither the sound of Hollingworth and Watson paralyzed by these varying levels of grief, anger, loneliness and guilt nor them pretending like everything was or is okay. It’s almost incidental that this is also their best album and one of the best synth pop records of the year.

This may be a record partly about mourning and dislocation, and one that doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge the more difficult parts of the situations that the duo went through (it’s simply never going to feel right to lose someone that young, even if your friendship heals and deepens you’ll never quite have that telepathic childhood closeness), but there’s far more than gloom here. The opening “Happy New Year” basks in the joy of repair, the chorus beaming “and nothing that was broken can touch how much I care for you,” while “Levitation” is the most effervescent song you’re likely to hear about disassociating on the bathroom floor. And while the increased level of compositional and sonic polish is to be expected from still-young artists getting increasingly used to their form (especially with fewer outside collaborators, this time the whole record produced by the band and David Wrench throughout) there’s still plenty of their vivid inventiveness, whether it’s the bit that gives “Insect Loop” it’s title or the way “Hall of Mirrors” evokes the way a crush can make your head swim. 

For the first time Walton and Hollingworth wrote songs separately to begin with here, although they still crisscross vocally and worked on each other’s. If Walton, with “Happy New Year” and “Hall of Mirrors,” gets some of the biggest moments, Hollingworth takes lead on some of the more devastating ones. The closing title track is a gorgeously sad reckoning with changing friendships and lost partners, one that acknowledges the pain that can’t be dismissed and the people who are still there to love. But maybe the key track here is the wrenching, soaring “Watching You Go,” a song about both the determination to live in the face of loss and the immense, consuming anger that we sometimes have to wrestle with to do so, eventually cracking the sky with guitar in order to release it. Two Ribbons is the kind of great record that you kind of wish the artists never had to make. 

Ian Mathers

[newmusickarl]

Top 50 Albums of 2022

13. Two Ribbons by Let’s Eat Grandma

After their highly experimental and quite brilliant debut I, Gemini, the duo of Rosa Walton and Jenny Hollingworth had started to find their footing, delivering their exceptional sophomore album I’m All Ears in 2018 to rapturous acclaim. With dazzling tracks like Falling Into Me and epic 10-minute closer Donnie Darko, it stormed its way into numerous year-end lists, including my own Top 5 of 2018. Now whilst this one places a few spots lower down, this euphoric third record from the synth-pop outfit is possibly even better than its predecessor.

In the years between their second and third albums, life has hit the young duo (who are still incredibly only in their early 20s) quite hard. In 2019, Hollingworth tragically lost her boyfriend to a rare form of bone cancer before producer SOPHIE, who they collaborated with on their singles for I’m All Ears, also passed away in tragic circumstances just last year. The pair themselves have also been quite open about the heavy toll the period took on their friendship, with discussions of even calling the band quits and going their separate ways. Thankfully they didn’t, instead emerging this year with their most accomplished work to date.

Whilst the experimentation of their debut and sprawling epics of I’m All Ears may be missing, the duo have still managed to deliver the goods, this time in the form of a polished, profound and just utterly joyous synth-pop record. In equal parts, it is an emotional, heartbreaking meditation on death and grief, but also an uplifting celebration of life and enduring friendship. There are profound moments that will leave you with the biggest lump in your throat, and others that will have you ecstatically dancing and jumping around your front room.

Opener Happy New Year is definitely the latter, a single that was timely dropped on January 1st and has incredibly remained one of the best songs of the year ever since that very moment. With pulsating, trance-inspired synths, it is an utterly infectious party anthem about the pair’s own friendship with each other. With New Year’s Eve coming up, I am officially pushing for it to replace Auld Lang Syne this year and every year now going forward. 

Levitation is another upbeat track that continues the momentum nicely, before album highlight Watching You Go delivers the first real gut-punch. As synths whirr in the background, Hollingworth hauntingly and honestly sings of her grief in what is a really beautiful moment, with some serious emotional heft carried by her stunning vocal performance.

Following the horn-backed, shimmering majesty of single Hall of Mirrors, the buzzing guitars of Insect Loop offer another hard-hitting moment, with emotions of anger and guilt simply pouring out of the track. Sunday and Strange Conversations both also stir and dazzle, before stripped-back single and title track Two Ribbons closes proceedings. With just Hollingworth’s voice and gentle, raw guitar strums, the final song of the record is another that pulls on the heartstrings, capturing “the isolating experience of grieving, our powerlessness in the face of death, and the visceral emotions of grief.”

As much as I adore I’m All Ears, I think the strong thematic core and emotional hit of Two Ribbons leans me into thinking this is my favourite project of theirs so far. A simply stunning record that sees the young duo tackle their frustration and grief with creativity and grace – coming out the other side stronger and better than ever.

Best tracks: Happy New Year, Watching You Go, Insect Loop

Listen here

[hoverlikeagoddess]

cause I haven't thought for months of anyone but you

[mirrorbreaks]

so I’m pretty sure this is the best pop song ever. hopeful euphoria

[uncharted-constellations]

Back to our originally scheduled programming, Minish Cap!

Edit: Redid Zelda because she was bothering me

[sealsdaily]

Today's Seals Are: Quite Toothy

[pastelpaperplanes]

99% sure I’ve drawn this pose w them before, but as to old proverb goes: two cakes are better than one

[barawrah]

i want us both to eat well

[shesbeenmarooned]

Let's Eat Grandma in the music video for "Happy New Year."

[br3akfestattiffanys]

Pink Valentine Set by Mirror Palais ⋆ ˚｡⋆˚ ೀ

[tomiyeee]

two down, two to go ;-; effects are so hard to draw...

abilities under the cut!

Anemo Sword

his normal attack pattern would definitely be similar to kaeya and keqing’s, especially the teleport at the end. also very unsure about whether he would have just his odachi, his dual katanas, or if he’d somehow switch between both 🤔 i did wanna include the dual sword though regardless, cuz i thought it was really fun how they implemented it with alhaitham :)

Elemental Skill: Now You See Me

Leo channels his Anemo energy into his sword, throwing it forward a short distance before turning into an Anemo wisp and teleporting to the sword's location after a short delay. Enemies caught in the attack's path will take Anemo damage on the sword's initial impact as well as a slightly larger amount when Leo teleports. This ability can hold up to 2 charges and generates elemental energy on each use.

Elemental Burst: Hachi Machi

Leo creates an Anemo portal at his location. Sending other party members' abilities through either portal creates a ball of Anemo energy infused with that ability's element that travels between the two points for the portal's duration. This ability deals the elemental damage of the ability within the portal, as well as added Anemo damage. Only Pyro, Electro, Hydro, or Cryo elemental skills or bursts can be sent through the portals.

-

the burst i’m very unsure on how it would work with existing game mechanics, and it def needs a lot of tweaking BUT i like the concept and this AU is just for fun, so i’m keeping it for now 😊

[chloesimaginationthings]

WHY ARE SUN AND MOON SO CUTE IN YOUR STYLEEEE

I stand by that Sun and Moon are the best to draw

[ghostbny]

Happy kirby and the Crystal shards aniversary!!