One of the quieter cultural shifts unfolding in recent decades has involved members of Generation X easing into midlife, a development that has drawn scant notice amid baby boomers’ ongoing claims on the cultural spotlight and the press’s fixation on youthful celebrity gossip. Signs of this transition appear in the licensing of once-defining slacker anthems for commercial soundtracks, the growing roster of college-radio and alternative-rock veterans mounting reunion tours or issuing remastered anniversary editions, and a rising number of indie artists turning their attention to children’s music. Among those leading this niche wave are Elizabeth Mitchell of the slowcore band Ida, power-pop figure Jason Falkner, and Lawrence, Kansas, songwriter Matthew Pryor through his project the Terrible Twos.
Pryor first rose to prominence fronting the Get Up Kids, an influential emo group whose discography between 1995 and 2005 encompassed four studio albums, a rarities collection, and a closing live recording. In 2000 he launched the New Amsterdams, an acoustic outlet that foregrounded a more intimate songwriting approach. As activity with the Get Up Kids tapered off, the New Amsterdams gained momentum, issuing five albums—including one digital-only release—across the years 2000 to 2006. The Terrible Twos function as a creative counterpart to the New Amsterdams, retaining the same personnel: Pryor handling guitar and lead vocals, Dustin Kinsey on second guitar, Eric McCann on bass, and Bill Belzer on drums. Motivated by a wish to create material his three children could enjoy, Pryor guided the band through sessions in his garage that yielded lighthearted folk- and country-inflected songs, with his kids contributing backing vocals and incidental sounds. The resulting album, If You Ever See an Owl…, appeared first as a self-released project under the Terrible Twos name in 2006, then received wider distribution in April 2007 through Poquito in conjunction with Vagrant Records, the imprint previously associated with the Get Up Kids. The group continued with its second release, Jerzy the Giant, in 2008.
