Listen: Twist - "Slums and Seaports"

Though “Slums and Seaports” is the work of just two souls—Laura Hermiston (The BB Guns) and Brian Borcherdt (Holy Fuck)—the track takes enough surprising turns that it sounds like the result of an all-star brainstorming session featuring Ty Segall, Nancy Sinatra and Ennio Morricone. Their choice of name is appropriate, then, as M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t see some of these twists coming; the introduction of a whammy bar abruptly teases surf from an opening barrage of lo-fi garage fury, a spaghetti western beat gallops in to follow Hermiston’s empowered vocals, and a dark, quiet affair explodes to a howling climax of razor-sharp guitars.

Just like that, what could have been a mess is a masterpiece.