Following their 2023 LP Presents, Nathan Nelson‘s American Cream Band bring the Twin City heat back to Quindi with an album rooted in duality. From the yin and yang party-starting A side and meditative B side to the dual-attack boy-girl vocals, the nature of opposites and equals steer the expansive, artful strain of rock n’ roll that spill out of this wholly unique Minnesotan export. For the ever intriguing Quindi, it’s a strident step into Spring after the frosty introspection of Roudi Vagou & Läuten der Seele’s Taghelle Nacht. While the world burns and injustice prevails, Twin is a celebration of unity and radical expression—all the more urgent against the backdrop of authoritarian overreach and righteous protest that has whipped through Minneapolis in recent times.

Twin continues Nelson’s drive at the helm of American Cream Band to draw in a colourful cast of players to feed into his orgiastic sound, meshing the trance-induction of krautrock with the irrepressible funk of the post-punk-new-wave explosion. But principal among the cast of characters and forming a central tenet to the identity of this album is Liz Buhmann, lead vocalist and a formidable, playful foil to Nelson’s own Midwestern twang. Around the electric spark between Buhmann and Nelson, a heavy duty ensemble wrangle guitar, bass, sax, a cornucopia of synths and a battery of percussion into all manner of sonic forms.

The double-sided concept manifests throughout Twin. On ‘Call Me‘ Buhmann sings in French to contrast Nelson’s English, while the strident strut of the NYC disco groove is offset by an inherent dreaminess that turns the track into a more cosmic kind of dancefloor workout. ‘Ethical Vampire‘ is a spiky cut with a garage rock patina that spirals into a psychedelic, synth-soaked get-down. ‘Don’t Burn The House Down‘ is a loose and limber roller that captures Can at their funkiest along with the hypnotic vibe of other such esteemed long format jammers, but American Cream Band boils that energy into a hook-laden art pop sensibility before a gentle, drawn out landing.

Even the more pensive moments on Twin find space for friction. For all its tender, smoky temperament, ‘Leda and the Swan‘ lets the electric piano and guitar fray at the edges and bleed into the red while Mat Heinrich’s tumbling drums lurch with pent-up intensity on the one. ‘No Funeral Necessary‘ skirts around the mellow pools of new age but prefers to let liberally doused Tape Echo tweak out Alex Meffert’s honeyed sax inflections and Buhmann and Nelson’s disparate sermons.

Nelson describes Twin as “an oppositorum coincidentia” — a reference to the mystical Latin concept of the coincidence of opposites that suggests contradictory ideas ‘fall together’ in a higher reality. Beyond the sound of the album, this idea also manifests in the cover photography by Sho Nikado and the swans on the LP labels by Autumn Garrington. As freewheeling and wide-open as American Cream Band feels, nothing appears by accident. The end result feels like a nourishing whole — rich with substance and nuance, deep enough to be explored and absorbed yet also so brazen and immediate you can’t help but feel its surface charms from the first thrusts of ‘The Hive Is Pissed‘ to the last ripples of ‘We’re Not So Sinister‘.

Credits

released June 5, 2026

Recorded July 2024 at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, MN w/ Nick Tveitbakk and 2024/25 at Earth 2 w/ Nathan Nelson in St Paul, MN.
Mixed May 2025 at Flat Black Studios in Lone Tree, IA w/ Luke Tweedy.
Mastered July 2025 at DSG Mastering in Los Angeles by Dave Gardner.
Photography by Sho Nikado. Swans by Autumn Garrington.
Lighting by Van Glow Light Show
Layout and design by Hannah Haugberg w/ assist from Liz Buhmann and Nathan Nelson.

Players

Liz Buhmann – vocals, percussion, Maestro Rhythm King
Nathan Nelson – vocals, Minimoog, EDP wasp, Echoplex Groupmaster
Alex Meffert – Sax
Andy Rockwood – Hofner and Jazzmaster guitars, Fender Showman
Jesse Kwakenat – Fender Jazz bass, Traynor Bassmaster
Burty – Nord keys, Prophet 5, Minimoog
Alex Achen – percussion, processed vocals
Mat Heinrich – drums
Adam Patterson – percussion, piano
Joe Berns – Arp Odyssey, Arturia MiniFreak
Ivy W.W. – group vocals
Becca Andersen – group vocals
Marissa Galan – group vocals

Licence

c+p Quindi Records 2026
all rights reserved