The Twilight Sad "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters" (Fatcat)
By Lucas Salg
Wednesday. Apr 04, 1:41 PM
Fuzzy, blurry widescreen rock.

Ah yes, the ol’ twilight sad. You know, when the sun is setting, and you’re like, depressed. It’s a special kind of gloom, hazy around the edges, wistful and cinematic, unlike the breakfast sad, when you just can’t bring yourself to finish those Grape Nuts, or the 1am sad where you drunk dial your ex and wind up barfing into the receiver.

The Twilight Sad have such a monumentally stupid band name and such a ridiculous batch of song titles (“That Summer, At Home, I Had Become the Invisible Boy,” anyone?) that I almost couldn’t bear to listen to this damn thing. But actually, despite the numerous red alert signals sent off by an album titled Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters (seasonal references, ugh), The Twilight Sad aren’t half bad, pursuing a sound that aims to blend the straight-ahead modern rock of Coldplay, the fuzzy roar of My Bloody Valentine, and the otherworldly shimmer of Sigur Rós.

The ‘Sad specialize in fuzzy, blurry widescreen rock, driven by pounding rhythms and walls of sound created by guitar and, refreshingly, an accordion. It’s tough to pull off an affecting rock ‘n’ roll number with that ungainly, wheezy instrument, but damned if the ‘Sad don’t know how to do wonders with it, incorporating it tastefully and creatively into their songs.

My major problem is that in chasing down their particular sound, they sometimes forget to write actual songs to fit into those magnificent squalls. A lot of the tracks here fail to really develop beyond a couple chords, which get repeated for up to six minutes a pop as they lose themselves in seas of noise. The other problem is frontman James Graham. The mix pushes him way up front, and his accent frankly is a bit overwhelming. His lyrics tend to rely on mantra-like repetition of phrases and by the time you hear him repeat a line for the 10th time in that thick Scottish brogue, it gets a little bit old. It seems like their whole sound would be better served by pushing up the guitars and accordion in the mix rather than Graham’s distracting vocals.

Despite the faults of the production job, and the absence of any real standout songs, I dig what The Twilight Sad are going for, and I think in a couple years they will be capable of making some pretty exciting music. All in all, not a bad first full-length from these guys. Now if you’ll excuse me, the lunchtime sad is sinking in, and I’m trying not to fucking weep into my burrito.
www.fat-cat.co.uk

Lucas Salg

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