Atmospheric, indulgent rock that fuses sounds reminiscent of ’70s rock with ethereal audioscapes …

Twilight Dementia’s music is a testament to the strength of partnership and that the whole is often much more than the sum of its parts. Their debut, self-titled album, Twilight Dementia, is a bold and daring statement of purpose that demonstrates the group’s unwillingness to play anyone’s game other than their own. The Washington D.C. based duo’s engrossingly atmospheric and ethereal rock is the product of a duo that seemed destined to find each other.

Formed in 2006, Twilight Dementia is comprised of Jennifer Mendiola on vocals and John Krauss on guitars, bass, keyboards and programming. “When we first met at the studio, we hit it off immediately,” recalls Jennifer. “Although our musical influences were not identical, our philosophy of music was the same.” Those wide-ranging influences include Lunascape, Evanescence, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Portishead, and Pink Floyd, among others. Jennifer adds, “Besides, when I first heard John play guitar, I remember thinking, I need to be in a band with this guy.” Conversely, John also relates that after working on their first song together, and hearing Jennifer’s vocal approach, he too, knew he wanted to keep writing songs with her. Seeing the possibilities in the immediacy of their chemistry, the two began meeting several times a week to write and experiment, always at twilight. Thus, Twilight Dementia was born.

From their initial songwriting session, both Jennifer and John spoke of the magic that was present. Says John, “While writing our first song, Twelve Oceans, we realized we had stumbled upon something special. When you are writing songs with someone it can either be a labor of love, or just be functional – this immediately felt like the former.” Twelve Oceans, a lush and dreamy soundscape, is fueled by John’s sensual, swirling guitars, and Jennifer’s lilting, siren-like vocals. The combined elements help to lure the listener into an almost-melancholic state of tranquility. The chemistry felt by the duo on this first song, would set the tone, but not a template, for the songs which followed.

John sums up recording thusly, “Making the album took about a year. We met several times a week to do it. We were consciously making sure that we never made the same song twice, and that we were not chasing trends – we were setting out to make an album that would be both original and interesting, while reaching as many people as possible.” Jennifer adds, “Every piece of music that John composes, speaks to me immediately, so I never have difficulty finding the words and the melodies.”

Twilight Dementia is an audacious debut that backs up the claims of its makers. Besides Twelve Oceans, another noteworthy track on the album is Lullaby, a song which deals with denial, and explores the thin line between sanity and insanity. Jennifer adds, “The song is about a woman who has recently suffered a miscarriage, yet refuses to accept that reality, and creates her own. In her delusion, she believes her baby is only asleep, and eerily finds comfort in her mistaken reality.”

The album also features many other eclectic sound experiments, including Deliverance, Midnight Charade, and Aftermath. The closing track, Matter of Time, with its sinister piano and mangled guitars, along with Jennifer’s eerie vocals, conjures a psychotic world of unrelenting, yet alluring gloominess. The song juxtaposes beauty with madness, as it descends into its final discordant strains.

But perhaps, the riskiest moments in the album are the duo’s renditions of the Rolling Stones’ Gimme Shelter, and Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall. John explains, “I’m a huge Stones fan, and Gimme Shelter really resonated with me while making this album. I wanted to give the song an apocalyptic treatment, as if it were a soundtrack to George Orwell’s ‘1984’, a favorite novel of mine. Given the times we’re living in, I thought it would be appropriate now, more than ever.” And Dylan? “While recording the basic tracks for what would become Twelve Oceans,” John recalls, “I was listening to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall, which had the line, ‘I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans.’ Meanwhile, Jennifer (who had never heard ‘Hard Rain’) told me that she wanted to title our song Twelve Oceans. It was one of those crazy coincidences that have been a regular part of our partnership and I knew then and there, we had to cover the Dylan classic.”

Currently, John and Jennifer are performing a series of shows that they refer to as their “half-plugged” sets, which feature vocals and electric guitar only. Jennifer adds, “We definitely will have a full electric band in the near future, but right now this ‘half-plugged’ approach allows us to present a more intimate side of the record.” Meanwhile, they’re also in the studio working on tracks for the follow-up album, as well as adding the final touches to their short film, Obsession. The film features the song Obsession, which did not appear on the first album.

With one supremely ambitious and successful album behind them, Twilight Dementia sees a future of limitless possibilities ahead. John concludes, “We’ve found and created the ideal partnership. We’re not exactly typical pop fare. But for music fans who really want something compelling and original, I think they will find it with us.”

All songs written and published by Jennifer Mendiola and John Krauss, except “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” (Dylan/Special Rider Music) and “Gimme Shelter” (Jagger/Richards/ABKCO Music Inc).

Produced by John Krauss

Email us at: info@twilightdementia.com