14. Confess / Twin Shadow

If you must reassert loverboy bona fides, this is your record.  If you are aiming to get her back, this is your roadmap.  If heartbreak is your modus operandi, if relationship drama is your preference, if emotional wreckage is your thing, Twin Shadow is your muse.  If you feel inclined to throw on your black leather and motorbike your way to redemption, this is your Purple Rain.  (No doubt Confess could provide the overemoting backdrop for a biker gang trying to save the leader's girfriend from the clutches of a less worthy lover.  Oh, wait, the record actually did provide the overemoting backdrop for a biker gang trying to save the leader's girlfriend from the clutches of a less worthy lover).

At the strange intersection of nu-wave and R&B, Confess lays bare George Lewis, Jr.'s bleeding, how-could-you-do-this-to-me heart.  The songs are pointed barbs, confessionals, pleas, and arguments, making a case for love that was always there for the taking.  He ditches the synth-and-guitar driven subtleties of Forget in favor of direct vocal confrontation, underscored by driving beats and slick production.  The result: an over-the-top performance filled with glittering confrontations and comebacks.  He is betrayed.  Then he betrays.  You don't run my heart, he says, so don't you dare.

Lewis, Jr. is a musical chameleon, and for the most part his channeling works.  Though he apes down-and-out Bowie, glides through rainy-day Morrissey, and gets desperate like Prince, he convinces as an obviously talented vocalist and stylist, even if he is still searching for that final voice that will be his alone.

By several accounts, Twin Shadow emerged as a surprising guitar hero during last summer's festival circuit.  Apparently, he rips.  Here, his guitar is often a mood-inducing sidelight to the record's big production of backbeats and keyboards, which largely push the singer's heart-searing agenda forward.  On "Run My Heart," for example, he employs Andy Summers-style guitar pick-ups before launching into the song's chorus payoff.  Although this record eschews his debut's more overt and pristine nods to new wave, and it certainly increases some of the stylized bombast, it still feels like an exciting ride in the right direction.