Glasgow quartet The Twilight Sad instantly recall
their fellow countrymen, the titanic Mogwai, sharing their fondness
for contrasting brooding, quiet tension with all-out noise assaults,
whilst vocalist James Graham’s conversational, defiantly
Scottish singing is obviously reminiscent of Arab Strap’s
Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton.
But where Mogwai specialise in bloody-minded aggression and
the Strap in bruised sarcasm, The Twilight Sad’s debut
full-length combines those defining features of the aforesaid
influences with a gloomy romanticism that’s all their
own.
Andy MacFarlane’s guitar drone plays like
a touchingly dour take on the romantic, soaring guitar noise
of My Bloody Valentine pioneer Kevin Shields and rather than
overwhelming the vocalist, MacFarlane’s guitar proves
to be the perfect foil for Graham, whose genuine emotion is
palpable as he fights to be heard over the guitarist’s
driving crescendos.
‘Walking For Two Hours’ is a prime
example of the band’s melodic, wall-of-noise rock. Folksy,
jangling guitar is soon overwhelmed by a tidal wave of distortion,
as Graham’s nervous vocals teeter on the brink of all-out
screeching, the singer barely managing to restrain himself.
The Twilight Sad’s seething anger also
comes through on Fourteen Autumns’ epic opener,
‘Cold Days From The Birdhouse’, where Graham mumbles
despondently over fragile acoustic plucking until MacFarlane’s
raging guitar again gives voice to the fury the vocalist wraps
in self-doubt and self-criticism.
The song winds down with Graham repeating ‘Where
are your manners?’ like a mantra, but it’s unclear
whether he’s tearing into some unnamed old flame or himself
as the noise subsides and all that remains is a single, repeated
piano note, melancholic accordion and the acoustic plucking
that apparently disappeared four minutes prior. It’s this
juxtaposition of subdued folk balladry and overwhelming guitar
noise that makes Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters so gripping.
There are countless post-rock outfits dependent
on hackneyed quiet-loud-quiet dynamic but rest assured The Twilight
Sad are not one of those. Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
is a genuinely warm and affecting record, from a quintessentially
Glaswegian band. Highly recommended.
