Twilight Muse light it up on 'Collabs: Live at Garcia’s at The Cap'

On their latest release Collabs: Live at Garcia’s at The Cap, genre-blurring collective Twilight Muse capture the essence of their live identity in full technicolor: raw, explosive, and delightfully unpredictable. What started as a band rooted in soul-kissed indie-rock has fully bloomed into something more untamed, more visceral.

From the opening pulse of the first single “Living for the City,” it’s clear the band isn’t playing it safe. Their take on the Stevie Wonder classic doesn’t attempt to replicate greatness, it reinvents it. With Robert Randolph on pedal steel bringing divine fire and G. Love’s harmonica punching through the mix like a midnight train, the performance builds with unrelenting momentum.

But the magic doesn’t stop there. “The Mayor”, a brand-new original track, might be the deepest flex on the album. Featuring the legendary George Porter Jr. of The Meters on bass, the tune is a pocket-driven masterpiece; equal parts slick and sweaty, political and playful. It shows just how far Twilight Muse has come since their 2023 debut A Moment Out of Time. Where that album was introspective and lush, Collabs is all groove and grit, with a winking grin under its teeth.

Fronted by the dynamic duo of Meg Pollaro and Andrew Shapiro, the band has a way of making the stage feel like their natural habitat. Their vocals bounce and weave around each other with a kind of ease you can’t fake, while the rest of the crew (Alan Cockern, Joe Colgan, Rich Monopoli, Todd Nocera, and Simon Wasserberger) lock in tight, delivering rhythm and nuance with equal force.

The secret weapon here, though, is the setting. Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre is known for its intimate energy and storied legacy, where it serves as the perfect crucible for the band’s boundary-pushing style. You can practically hear the sweat on the walls.

With Collabs, Twilight Muse prove they aren’t just a studio act with pretty arrangements and clever lyrics. They’re a band’s band, the kind of act that other musicians want to jam with, and audiences want to follow wherever the night leads.

If you haven’t caught a Twilight Muse show yet, this live record might just be the next best thing. And if you have, well, you already know. Fire it up, turn it loud, and get ready to move.