Twinkle Emo

Twinkle emo, or twinkly emo, is the strain of emo revival defined by clean, arpeggiated guitar figures, tapped melodies and math-rock complexity set against diaristic, shouted-sung vocals. Named for the sparkling guitar tone of *American Football*, whose 1999 album supplied the template, it was codified in the late 2000s by Philadelphia and American Midwest bands such as *Algernon Cadwallader*, *Snowing* and *Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)* on small DIY labels. The bands are typically young, short-lived and regionally clustered, which gives the style its snapshot-of-a-scene character.