Only Twin, is the project of Thomas Dutton (Forgive Durden, Caridknox on) his new album, It Feels Nice to Burn, drops on July 18th. Ahead of the album’s arrival, the Los Angeles artist has shared a video for “Give You Up,” featuring Julianne Hough. Directed by Josh Martin & Ryan McNeeley (The Director Brothers), the video paints a mesmerizing love story between human and robot. Enhanced by Julianne Hough’s jaw-dropping choreography, she brings this tale to life, portraying a forbidden romance with a Xerox machine. The track follows previous singles “Love of a Lifetime,” “Pool Day” ft. Emilia Ali, and “Thirty Minutes.”

On the video, Dutton shares, “The inspiration for the video started from seeing those Uber Eats delivery robots trying to navigate a busy sidewalk and feeling bad for the little guys. My good friend Josh Martin (director) and I started talking about an idea of some kind of love story between human and robot/machine. We ended up with a dancing Xerox machine and the absolutely incredible Julianne Hough, who was kind enough, and game enough, to tackle this weird idea with absolute sincerity.”

“Give You Up,” Dutton describes the moment he and his wife “jumped in the deep end” of their burgeoning relationship. “I would dance on broken glass,” he sings over glossy, ‘80s-inspired synths reminiscent of a coming-of-age film. “If it meant I got another moment.” That full-throated declaration of love is a far cry from Only Twin’s debut album. On 2021’s Rare Works, Dutton worked through the dissolution of a relationship and the end of a music project that had defined his life for a decade. As one half of the duo Cardiknox, Dutton had been signed to Warner, and before that, he made his entry to the music industry with the Fueled By Ramen project Forgive Durden.

Now, Dutton is happily independent, and as a solo artist, he’s released some of the most dynamic, genre spanning music of his long career. “I was trying to find a place that lived between grimy but beautiful sounds paired with more poppy elements,” he says. Inspired by chameleons like the 1975 and Bon Iver, Only Twin emerged out of necessity. When Cardiknox dissolved, producing became Dutton’s full-time job, and he wanted to start a project that showcased himself as a left-of-center, indie-pop aesthete. But as Dutton used music to process his breakup, Only Twin took on a life of its own. “It started as a way to carve out a little space for myself,” he says. “But as I started reclaiming tracks I’d written for other people, the project gave me closure on a huge chapter in my life.”

“Lyrics are so important to me,” Dutton says. He describes the ones on It Feels Nice to Burn as diaristic, their specificity giving listeners a chance to really know him. Take “Thirty Minutes,” wherein Dutton recounts a socially distant sushi date: “We’re eating yellowfin/ Debating when the world is gonna end/ She can hurt me now.” That early date evolves into a full-blown love affair, but that nagging anxiety – she can hurt me now – gives the otherwise ebullient synthpop song a memorable edge.

order It Feels Nice To Burn HERE