Having a member of your group move to another state tends to slow down musical activity, if not stop it cold -- especially if you're a duo. But for the electronic/experimental pair in Twine, it seems to have had the opposite effect. Since 1997, Greg Malcolm and Chad Mossholder, originally based out of Kent, have been performing their glitchy, dark, ambient music around the region with such artists as Thomas Brinkmann, Faust, and Oval. Their debut,
Reference, and later remix disc,
Resource, both released on Ohio's Ad-astra Records, gained them wider attention, eventually leading to a 12-inch release on Chicago's Hefty Records. So when Mossholder took a job as a video game sound designer in Colorado, it seemed as if Twine, despite the attention, would do what many groups have done in the situation: call it quits. Instead, Malcolm and Mossholder have managed to collaborate long distance on studio projects. Apparently, the approach is working -- Twine has three full-lengths coming out this year: one on Sweden's Komplott label, another on France's Bip-Hop, and yet another on Hefty. The separation hasn't forced Twine to cut down on live performances, either. In addition to their recent performances in Europe, Mossholder and Malcolm (who now lives in Cleveland) perform separately in their respective regions -- a technique that allows them to cover even more ground.
