The Twilight Sad : Forget the Night Ahead

<img src="http://www.qromag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/thetwilightsadforget.jpg" alt=" " />The Twilight Sad have grown up well. ...
7.6 FatCat
2009 

The Twilight Sad : Forget the Night Ahead

The Twilight Sad have grown up.  When the Glaswegian foursome debuted in 2007 with Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters (QRO review), they were definitely following in the path of label/tour/countrymates Frightened Rabbit (QRO live review), but putting a more post-rock spin on things, as well as speaking more directly about youthful depression.  But with Forget the Night Ahead, The Twilight Sad mature into a more complicated and varied sound, one that isn’t quite as instantly memorable, but holds up very well overall.

Unfortunately, Forget starts with its weakest track, "Reflection of the Television", whose crashes are over-muddled, and whose echo isn’t sustained.  But from that nadir the album only improves, starting with the epic & pressing follower, "I Became a Prostitute".  Singer James Graham gets more lyrical at times, such as with "Seven Years of Letters", and isn’t as straightforward in his crushing sadness.  In fact, the stripped moments, like on "That Room" and "Floorboards Under the Bed", allow Graham’s voice to really stand out, as well as highlight the strong rhythms that underpin this record – though this does make crashing tracks like "Reflection" or "Made To Disappear" seem lesser in comparison.

The back half of Forget really puts all the pieces of the first side together, whether the lyrical-mixed-well-with-crashing "That Birthday Present", or the growing post-rock with rhythmic base "The Neighbors Can’t Breathe".  Perhaps best at combining everything is "Interrupted", whose lyrical expanse has just the right amount of post-rock explosions.

Currently on tour with Frightened Rabbit, The Twilight Sad are also joined by the newest Scottish heartbreak on FatCat, We Were Promised Jetpacks (QRO album review).  Just when they’re no longer the new kids on the block, The Twilight Sad have matured nicely.

MP3 Stream: "Interrupted"

{audio}/mp3/files/The Twilight Sad – Interrupted.mp3{/audio}

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