To say that The Pfeiffer Twins took their time on their debut disc, Nobody’s Puppet, would be an understatement. According to Carrie, doing it all themselves meant they had no choice but to go slow.
“It took us a little under three years from start to finish,” she tells Billboard. “It was a long time, but it had to take that long because we were self-funding it. We had to pay for studio time, all the musicians, and everything that would go into an album.”
Lindsay, her sister, says the time was well spent, with the duo developing their vocal and writing talents as the album came along. “We were writing songs for it the whole time. When we first started recording, we had a few songs that we definitely wanted to put on the record. Over that time period, we wrote a lot more songs. We were developing as artists as we were making the album.”
Growing up in rural New Jersey, the sisters’ musical upbringing included many different influences.
“We loved Madonna, and had all the vinyl records. Then there was Paula Abdul, Ace of Base, and all this ’90s girlie pop,” Carrie says. “As we got older, we gravitated toward classic rock — Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Queen.”
There was some country that filtered into that mix, too, relates Lindsay. “Our mom always listened to Patsy Cline and a lot of Tanya Tucker. I feel our music is a blend of so many different styles. We call our genre ‘rootsie’ because our music doesn’t fit into one style.”
As kids, the sisters spent a lot of time developing their knowledge of music from an instrumental standpoint. “We always knew how to sing, but instruments came later. In elementary school, we joined a band. I learned flute and piccolo in the band, and Lindsay did percussion. She was the only female drummer in school.
“We did musicals during our high school career, and once we had the basis of how to play an instrument and how to read music down, we started to teach ourselves our own instruments. This was around 15 or 16. We taught ourselves the acoustic guitar. School gave us the basis, and we taught ourselves.”
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Nobody’s Puppet is an eclectic mix of country, pop, folk, and even a little bit of rock n’ roll swagger that the duo pulls off rather convincingly. Lindsay says they had the perfect producer in the studio. “We recorded it in Raritan, NJ, with Anthony Krizan. He co-wrote a lot of the songs on the album with us. He had produced some of Lenny Kravitz’s albums back in the ’90s, and he used to be in the Spin Doctors. Now he’s more of a producer and songwriter. We were lucky to meet him, and have him help us make our record.”
Writing-wise, the Pfeiffer Twins run the gamut from the attitude and power of “Higher” to the masterfully written “The Funeral (It’ll Be Alright),” which Carrie says was inspired by a true event.
“The catalyst for that song was our cousin, Justin, who killed himself a couple of years ago at the age of 27. He had been battling depression, and he was never diagnosed, but we all think he had bipolar disorder. He was going through a rough time. We all loved him very much, and he was a great guy. One day, out of the blue, he took his own life. We went to the funeral, and it was very sad and horrible. But you got to see who really loves you and who is there for you in a time like that, to pick you up and tell you that everything is going to be okay.”
Lindsay admitted the turnout for the event surprised her and her sister. “People came to support us and the family that I didn’t expect to come, and it really touched my heart. Then there were people who I expected to come who were among my best friends that didn’t come. It was at that moment that we thought, ‘Something is going on here.’ It was a profound moment. So we wrote a song about it — to express something huge we had gone through and this huge lesson we learned.”
The duo says that they didn’t spell that out in the song, however, and admits it’s been interesting to see how different listeners and reviewers have related to the track. “We made the song vague enough that you can make it whatever you want,” says Carrie. “We did not make it a song about suicide — you definitely cannot tell that. We made it broad enough that anyone who is going through a rough time could relate to it.”