2007’s ’Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’ was without a doubt the best album of the year – its mix of heavy laden MBV layered guitar fraught with James Alexander Graham’s somewhat heartfelt bitter, dark and twisted lyrics made it an absolute must for anyone who loves their music grim and driven down a black hole. Graham’s emotive lyrics are what drives through the heart of the TS and no matter how many times you read the accompanying lyric sheet its somewhat difficult to decipher his train of thought. Stories of his childhood and life shine through and they remain present in places on ‘Forget The Night Ahead’
So two years on how have the band developed? Where as ’Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’ was hypnotic and experimental in walls of noise, ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ is more a maelstrom of heavy guitar, with less of a focus on noise that drenched the beauty of their debut. Andy Macfarlane’s come of age guitars are still heavy but less feedback driven and delivered with more of a rock ethic. Don’t get me wrong though it still rocks like a bastard.
Graham’s vocal presence will either welcome you in or completely ostracise you – the listener. His thick Glaswegian accent adds to the vitriol he vents on and this is ever so present in ‘I Became A Prostitute’. Graham seems to be sharing an anecdotal tale of a lady of a night and the fact that she had a cold and lonely life she could of bettered for herself (you are the bearer of a womb without love, you could have it all’). The music whips around your ears and the pounding drums are relentless.
‘Made to Disappear’ drops its cap in the lap of their debut with a sonic noise attack that encircles round the chorus lyrics ‘ you’ll always have some honest fun’. Fun is something that The Twilight Sad don’t do at all, it just isn’t in their make up and Graham’s lyrics echo strains of a backs to the wall posture familiar with fellow Scots The Jesus & Mary Chain and Fat Cat label mates Frightened Rabbit.
‘The room’ is a sombre affair and a water torture piano refrain mixed with a monotonous drum beat reflects Graham’s storytelling of what seems to be a child’s witness to a murder, but don’t hold me to that one!!
The twilight sad have certainly ‘beefed up’ on their sophomore album and this is evident in ‘That Birthday Party’. They juxtapose this with ‘Floorboards under the bed’ which is musically reminiscent to The Smiths ‘last night I dreamt…’. The eery cold sounding piano offers a chilling presence along with the minor guitar chord.
All in all, it’s a cracking album, ok its not as strong as their debut but when you create something as stunning as that whilst creating your own aesthetic sound then its always gonna be hard to compare. ‘Forget the night ahead’ is haunting, beautiful and very thought provoking. Up there as one of the finest albums of 2009 – simply beautiful!
