8/10

On his latest studio album 'The Aviation Station', Exeter-based artist Twenny Bucks expands the guitar-heavy sound first established on 2022’s 'Sleeper' EP into a broader and more varied full-length record. Written, performed, recorded, produced and mixed entirely by Ed, the album functions as a snapshot of his current creative identity, combining angular rock, vintage production textures and a deliberately uneven emotional tone.

And that unevenness is central to the record and its aesthetic. Some songs approach serious subjects such as mortality and the instability of everyday life, while others follow much lighter ideas. But rather than forcing these diverse moods into a consistent narrative, he allows them to sit beside one another, reflecting the way humour and anxiety often overlap.

Ed describes songwriting here as both a creative pastime and a form of therapy, and 'The Aviation Station' carries evidence of both functions. The more reflective pieces suggest an artist processing difficult ideas, while the playful material provides relief from the pressure of treating every thought with equal seriousness.

All this while the production aims to bring older and newer approaches together. Analogue-style processing and straightforward guitar effects introduce warmth and roughness, while the final mixes retain a modern clarity. This balance allows the record to feel informed by earlier rock traditions without becoming deliberately retro in its direction.

Lp>As a self-produced project, 'The Aviation Station' benefits from the absence of pressure to maintain one mood or satisfy a fixed genre identity. Its shifts between seriousness and nonsense can be abrupt, but they also give the album its distinctive personality.

Measured against that intention, 'The Aviation Station' is an engaging and uniquely wild release. It shows Twenny Bucks refining a sound built from distortion, independence and an awareness that humour can sometimes communicate anxiety more effectively than solemnity.