Early life and career beginnings (1983–2009) Lewis was born March 30, 1983 in the Dominican Republic and raised in Florida. His first exposure to music was singing in his church choir. Around 2000, he moved to Boston and started the band Mad Man Films alongside Joseph Ciampini (drums) (of
Hooray for Earth) and Zak Longo (bass) of Before Lazers. Mad Man Films released two records independently. In 2006, not satisfied with recording music for theatre and films, Lewis moved to Brooklyn, New York, and started the Twin Shadow project.
Forget received critical acclaim, appearing on numerous "album of the year" lists, including
Pitchfork (No. 26) and
Stereogum (No. 32). It has been described as "steeped in 1980s new wave", having "sophisticated melodies", "R&B intimacy", and "poetic lyrics", and "hazily new wave-tinged pop". Twin Shadow was
Rolling Stones Band of the Week on October 7, 2010.
Confess (2012–2013) On July 10, 2012, Lewis released his follow-up album,
Confess, which he produced himself. Two of the album's songs, "Five Seconds" and "Patient", were transformed into a music video saga that drew inspiration from Lewis's 2012 novel,
The Night of the Silver Sun.
The A.V. Club described the record as "filled with Morrissey-esque yelps and Human League-worthy choruses, [...] Twin Shadow manages to digest his influences rather than simply replicate them.
Confess retains the humid fog that saturated
Forget, but the instrumentation is brighter, louder, and sharper. Synthesizers punch through the atmosphere, and Lewis' exquisite croon floats above it all."
Confess debuted on the
Billboard 200 at No. 54, and on the Top Rock Albums chart at No. 18. It had sold 30,000 copies in the US as of March 2015.
Eclipse and Night Rally (2014–2016) After criticising his own work for being too elitist, Lewis set out to create a more approachable album, which he named
Eclipse. It was his first with a major record label,
Warner Music. Carl Wilson of
Billboard magazine noted that Twin Shadow had left behind much of his "foggy layers of synths and drum machines", reminiscent of the likes of
Depeche Mode and
Simple Minds, in favor of a more contemporary sound. The track "To the Top" was featured in the trailer for the film
Paper Towns. On April 17, 2015, Twin Shadow and his band and crew were involved in a tour bus crash. The driver, John Crawford, and drummer Andy Bauer were hospitalized and in serious condition. Lewis underwent reconstructive hand surgery following the accident. On July 28, 2015, Twin Shadow released the
Night Rally mixtape for free online, in conjunction with the announcement of tour by the same name. Due to Bauer's severe injuries from the April bus crash, the band retooled the songs in the live set, with samples and a drum machine to keep time. Twin Shadow toured the United States and Canada and opened a portion of
Death Cab for Cutie's US tour.
Night Rally consists of recordings from 2010 to 2014. During his convalescence in Los Angeles following the bus crash, Lewis began to look through old hard drives. He left a message under the mixtape on
SoundCloud, expressing how his discovery gave him a glimpse into the past five years: The more I dug, the more I realized how much music was made in the last 5 years. Being home, I had the time and perspective to enjoy all the little impulses, embarrassing choices, and exciting moments that I couldn't bottle. There were also some songs that I couldn't understand why I never finished".
Caer, "Hollow Days", Broken Horses (2018) Twin Shadow released his fourth studio album,
Caer, on April 27, 2018, which was his final album with Warner Bros. On October 26, 2018, he launched his own label, Cheree Cheree, with the release of the single "Hollow Days", which incorporates the
bachata sounds of his birthplace, the Dominican Republic. An EP titled
Broken Horses was issued on December 26, 2018.
Twin Shadow (2021) Twin Shadow released his fifth,
self-titled studio album on July 9, 2021, on his own label, Cheree Cheree. According to a press release quoted by
Paste magazine, the record "represents Lewis' biggest sonic shift to date and finds the artist reexamining the cherished sounds of the golden era of soul and punk that were part of his musical upbringing and embracing his Dominican heritage, recording portions of the album at FAMA Studios in the Dominican Republic". ==Writing==