"When I was first introduced to Twin Library it was through their short release, Softer Seasons. A charming collection of gritty, lo-fi folk-pop songs, Softer Season had a lightness to it despite the heavy sound. Where The Abandoned Reel has the same lo-fi folky sound, the lightness, for the most part, has been replaced by more melancholic tunes.

A whooping fourteen-song offering, The Abandoned Reel is just another notch in the extensive back-catalogue of Twin Library, continuing to seem almost effortless for this Edmonton band to make simple but worthy songs.

'The Dark Ships' begins The Abandoned Reel off with one minute and forty-six seconds of the more reckless side of Twin Library. Filled with distortion in a more rock outing, 'The Dark Ships' perfectly sets the tone for the darkness of the album.

'I See You’ve Got Horses' and 'A Country Heart' which both have lyrical nods to country life, also have heavily sombre tones. 'I See You’ve Got Horses' has a thundering percussion section while 'A Country Heart' has a lulling picked-guitar part and the addition of a violin in the chorus, allowing both songs to be able to fit in the album nicely.

But it’s not all gloom in The Abandoned Reel. Despite the minimalistic recording, one of the things that I think is so great about Twin Library is their ability to write a short and sweet folk-pop song. 'Has my drinking improved since I last saw you?' the opening line from 'A Great Song,' a title which speaks the truth, asks. 'When I First Heard The Train' and 'Nighthawk USA' are more of the same short but poppy gems.

'Archives' is one of the more multi-faceted songs from the album including several guitar parts overlapping for a very warm sound. Speaking to a past love, the story behind the lyrics make them the strongest from The Abandoned Reel.

Twin Library’s continual ability to generate lo-fi folk pop songs is impressive to say the least, and The Abandoned Reel is another addition to the already good collection."
Grayowl Point, May 2012
grayowlpoint.com/2012/05/22/review-the-abandoned-reel-twin-library/

"Given that this Edmonton-based band has been releasing music non-stop over the past four years, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to fans that Twin Library has released yet another album titled The Abandoned Reel this past March.

This music-making-machine of a band has released four albums since 2010 as well as a string of other albums between 2008 and 2010 under the name The Public Library, and their tunes have been praised by the likes of Discorder Magazine and Quick Before it Melts.

Apparently The Abandoned Reel contains some tracks which have been re-recorded, while other tracks were discovered in boxes and transferred directly from a four-track cassette.

With a mixture of garage rock and folk, combined with haunting tribal beats and introspective lyrics, this album is bound to be on any music lover’s iPod playlist this summer."
Rex Manning Day, June 2012

"There’s a certain connotation that comes with a title like The Abandoned Reel, that the collection of songs therein are fragments, half-finished ideas that get ditched before they end up in the ditch. Edmonton’s Twin Library smash that notion swiftly within the first few seconds of their new album. While some of the songs are just short blasts of garage folk (that’s what I’m gonna call call it) less than two minutes long, there’s a deep well of experimentation and ideas within each, never sounding rushed or incomplete...some are new songs, written and recorded for the album, alongside older songs that have been given a new lease on life, but there’s not a cut-and-paste feel, like they’ve tried to stitch things together to make a whole. The Abandoned Reel is the real deal, and Twin Library have dealt us a winning hand in it. For anyone who like their fi set lo and their pop loose and jangly, pick up Twin Library’s latest and give it a good home."
Quick Before It Melts, May 2012

"Luckily, Twin Library have a penchant for creating minimally recorded, hastily released indie rock. The fact that the band have put out a whopping eight albums (with the first four recorded as the Public Library) since 2008 has allowed these Edmontonians to properly find their identity and sharpen their craft. The all-in method of lo-fi recording, often employed by Guided by Voices, Jim Guthrie and Eric's Trip, has benefitted Twin Library's latest, The Abandoned Reel, vastly. Over 14 intimate and sombre recordings, tracks like fuzzed-out strummer 'The Dark Ships' and the haunted, 4AD-like 'A Country Heart' feel organic and sincere despite the obvious genre nods. As the brittle melody and chorus-aided violin of 'Snow' clashes with the too-high-in-the-mix tambourine of 'It Means So Little to Me,' it's the mood of The Abandoned Reel that allows such clangers to come off as character builders. On their eighth try, Twin Library have managed to deliver a uniform feel, floating like a butterfly, stinging like a butterfly.
Exclaim! April 2012
exclaim.ca/Reviews/PopAndRock/twin_library-abandoned_reel

"The psych-experirockers have a great sound, deep and soulful, twinging towards darkness from time to time. You should definitely have this in your collection, regardless of where you’re from."
New Music Michael, April 2012
newmusicmichael.com/wordpress/2012/04/twin-library-the-abandoned-reel-lp-now-available/

"Canadian garage folk band Twin Library are back with another album of short, sweet, laid back folky pop...a collection of new songs and songs rediscovered in dusty boxes transports you to a calmer, quieter less stressful world. It's cheaper than a therapist and more effective than a two week holiday."
The Devil Has The Best Tuna, April 2012
besttuna.blogspot.ca/2012/04/reel-life.html

#4 CJSW Calgary, April 24 2012
#28 CFCR Saskatoon, April 24 2012
#7 CFBU St. Catharines, May 8 2012
#27 CJSF Burnaby, May 8, 2012
#19 CFRU Guelph, May 22 2012
#11 CFBX Kamloops, June 5 2012
#16 CJSR Edmonton, June 5 2012
#8 CJAM Windsor, June 5 2012
#5 CFUR Prince George, July 10 2012
#10 CFMH Saint John, August 14 2012
#27 CKLU Sudbury, August 28 2012