Search - The Twilight Sad :: Forget the Night Ahead

The Twilight Sad - Forget the Night Ahead

Andrew Vice | Plano, TX | 10/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Twilight Sad are pissed, and they want you to know it. It's obvious that James Graham has been listening to his early Cure records lately, and it shows heavily throughout this album of dark, brooding, swirling tales of despair. Yes, this album is an epic downer, but it's also smart and musically rich, and will be loved by any fan of the band's work so far. It may be a little too bold to appeal to a wider audience, but it's obvious the band didn't put this album together with the hopes of drawing in legions of new fans: this is a record for the fans, and it's a great record.



Standouts for me are the brutal, hazy opener "Reflection of the Television" and it's more aggressive sister-song, "I Became a Prostitute." As you can no doubt tell by the titles, these songs are no joke, and the lyrics cover general themes of personal disgust, depression, and social anxiety. "The Room" is the closest the band gets to a ballad on this record, but it's far too disturbed and heavy to be a proper love song, but it's a strong, immediate track. As I said before, this is an album for the fans, and it's a great swirling mass of adult angst."

Nothing forgettable about this

TungstenBlues | Brooklyn, NY | 10/29/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's been over two years since The Twilight Sad gut punching debut "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". In "Forget the Night Ahead", the band gets even darker, more cryptic, noisier and somewhat more melodic. In general, the style is not that far off their debut, the thing that has most significantly changed here is the mood. Some people have said they missed the accordion here. I don't think it's about the instrument per se, but the fact that this record has a different purpose. The sooner you understand that, it'll be a more rewarding experience to you as the listener. At first, I kept comparing it to FA&FW and I felt lost within it.



The lyrical themes are closer to missed opportunities, secrets and guilt. Not exactly the kind of stuff that would bring melancholy to your heart. Instead there's a lot of distortion and noise, but it's also clear they were looking to bring more variety to the mix. This can be best represented by the somewhat polar opposites of the album.



Opening track "Reflection of the Television" is full of tremolo guitars, pounding bass and drums all serving as a backdrop to surprisingly calm vocals. It perfectly captures the anxiety that surrounds a line as frightening as it its ambiguous, "There's people downstairs". It's clear they were looking to escape the somewhat expected explosion in the songs, so instead it slowly builds up tension until the last 30 seconds when it all becomes very sinister and the last "There's people downstairs" sounds like it was delivered from a deathbed.



A song like "The Neighbours Can't Breathe" is as tumultuous as it is exciting. With some very dark imagery that make the shifts in tempo feel a bit disturbing to be honest. It leaves you wondering about what's been left unsaid. There are also subtler moments like "The Room" - a haunting, mysterious and thrilling song that will make you feel guilty and shameful of something you can't even decipher; and "Floorboards Under the Bed", a very understatedly beautiful, evocative, and indeed, very sad song. The fact that they call pull all this off is what set this band apart, makes them so interesting and worthy of repetitive spins.



Even though, I've given it 5 stars, it's not actually "perfect". There seems to be some mismatched production, best exemplify by the vocals that sound clear and strong in a couple of tracks only to go back to being buried in the mix for others. Also, some of the details in the wall of sound have been mixed way lower than the rest of the elements. If you listen to the songs at low volume you will miss them. I'm pretty sure that was their intention, though.



By the way, thanks to that troll post who inspired me to write a real review."

Epic, bulding swells of melody & rage

Charlie Quaker | Normal, IL. | 11/12/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 3rd release from this Glasgow, Scotland band is moody, muscular & melodic. Led by the

heady Scottish brogue of singer James Graham, these are gorgeous, epic, soaring songs

with a raw, beautiful & subtle sense of tension that swells from the basement of emotion, and

explodes into a raging barrage of skyward brilliance. Sometimes they do seem like a "one trick

pony", but oh-my-God what a trick!! Similarities to Airborne Toxic Event, My Bloody Valentine,

Glasvegas, We Were Promised Jetpacks, Xcerts.

"