Twin Limb Is Reuniting For Poorcastle: We caught up with the band before their upcoming performance

In the mid-to-late 2010s, Twin Limb’s captivating psychedelic sound that melted dark, melancholy folk with magnetic, freewheeling indie pop made them one of the most unique and celebrated bands in Louisville. Now, after a hiatus of several years, Twin Limb is set to play a reunion show at the locally-focused three-day music festival Poorcastle, which takes place May 19-21 at Breslin Park. They’ll be headlining on Friday, the first night of the festival that also features several Poorcastle veterans and throwback sets such as Lady Pyramid and Howell Dawdy. 

Twin Limb will be performing as a duo, with founding members MaryLiz Bender and Lacey Guthrie, but without guitarist Kevin Ratterman, who couldn’t make it for the set. LEO recently caught up with Bender and Guthrie via Zoom to catch up. 

Besides the Twin Limb reunion, both Bender and Guthrie have been working on solo material which will soon be released. Bender, who’s currently based in Texas, is the co-founder and creative director at Cosmic Perspective, a company that is dedicated to “sharing the awe and wonder of space through films and immersive experiences.” Part of that is through her solo project Annu, where she uses MI.MU music gloves to create “immersive storytelling experiences.” Guthrie, who lives in Louisville,  released her first solo album, The King of Holding Onto Things, in 2021, and has another on the way.

Here are some excerpts from our conversation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

It’s really neat that Poorcastle is doing these throwback shows on the first night of the festival. How did you all get involved? And what was it about the idea that you all connected with, and wanted to reunite for?

MaryLiz Bender: Can I tell my perspective real fast, because it’s so simple and then you take it away? It went like this: Lacey messaged me, ‘Do you want to play a show at Poorcastle!?’ And I was like, ‘Yes!’ [laughs]. I would say yes to anything, whatever, but Poorcastle is really special to us.

Lacey Guthrie: It’s home. That’s a place that received us way back in the day, with wide open arms, and it’s always been that place. 

Obviously, you all are good friends, and I’m sure you’re just excited to share the stage together, but what is it about the songs of Twin Limb that you’re excited to revisit? Has the absence of performing those songs together live sort of revealed anything about them?

Bender: We haven’t played these songs in a really, really, really longtime and we’re piecing things together as we speak, so one could be a little nervous about it, but instead, it just feels like this incredible moment of reconnection — deep reconnection.

Guthrie: We’re so engaged when we’re playing — probably too engaged for most folks’ preference — but the perfect level of engagement for me and this weirdo. That’s unique to Twin Limb. There’s something that is so tender about these songs.

Bender: I’ve played music with other people and it’s been a really rewarding and beautiful experience, but there is like a portal that opens up when she and I stare at each other or something. I feel like I transcend MaryLiz and become a part of something way bigger. So it almost feels like touching God or something when I’m in her presence, and I mean that’s a really ridiculous way to put it — and dramatic — but that’s how I actually feel, that I enter a different realm, the realm of magic. And it’s so contrasted to the world of science, so interesting. So I’m excited to be back in that vulnerable space, particularly with this beautiful human.  

Guthrie: We sort of figured out who we were in the course of writing together. MaryLiz and I found each other and it was like, ‘Wait a second, the way we have been existing is slightly incorrect, we need to make some adjustments here. Glad you’re here, glad you made it, this time.’ And we found that, there is a flow, and it feels so good. It feels so good to make something with someone you love. She showed me who I was. We were kind of like holding up a mirror for each other, and then Kevin came into the picture and held up his big mirror and triangulated and we were like, ‘This is really cool.’

Twin Limb have any more plans for shows or new music, or is the band still sort of considered an ongoing thing?

Bender: We’ve never defined it.

Guthrie: We were like, ‘Everyone live — live lives, do what we want to do. We recorded In The Warm Light, As A Ghost long after we played what was our last show, before this upcoming one, but we talk about doing it again all of the time. We talk about making more music. Yeah, we haven’t defined it. •

Poorcastle is set for Friday-Sunday, May 19-21, at Breslin Park (1400 Payne Street.) Single day tickets are $15 and a weekend pass is $35. For more info and the full schedule of bands, visit poorcastle.com. 

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This article appears in May 9, 2023.