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Track Listings
| 1. Cold Days from the Birdhouse |
| 2. That Summer, At Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy |
| 3. Walking for Two Hours |
| 4. Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard |
| 5. Talking With Fireworks / Here, It Never Snowed |
| 6. Mapped By What Surrounded Them |
| 7. And She Would Darken the Memory |
| 8. I'm Taking the Train Home |
| 9. Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters |
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Albums that attack you from nowhere are a rarity. A friend sent me an email with a link in it, the subject "I think you need to listen to this". The link was to The Twilight Sad's myspace page. One click was all it took, the music streaming through my tiny headphones and sending chills down my spine. With Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters they've created one of the most accomplished debut albums you'll hear all year.
This is an album of immense lyrics that create great huge paintings of romantic poetry all set against a vicious backdrop of overdriven guitars and feedback. The band are based in Scotland and the songs are all delivered in a thick Highlands drawl that at times spit and hurl the words at you and at other times silky smooth and warming. All the songs deal with the usual perils of life and love, the heartbreak and rejection entwined with the periods of elation and happiness that can only come with finding love. There's a hint of Morrissey and The Smiths elaborate playfulness with words, the images that are conjured up similar in vain; "Why do they come when it's always raining" from Walking For Two Hours bringing to mind dark Sundays on a small coastal town. That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy brings to mind dark family secrets and sounding like some Ian Banks novel: "The kids are on fire in the bedroom" twisted against the oddly haunting "I'm fourteen and you know I learnt the easy way". And She Would Darken The Memory also feels as though it's dealing with some childhood trauma, "Head up dear, the rabbit might die" followed quickly by "I'm putting up with your constant whine and I won't last too long" sounds dark and sinister, all set against the backdrop of charged guitars and crashing drums, the vocals dip into dark howls and yet hit rosy highs.... Read more ›
This is an album of immense lyrics that create great huge paintings of romantic poetry all set against a vicious backdrop of overdriven guitars and feedback. The band are based in Scotland and the songs are all delivered in a thick Highlands drawl that at times spit and hurl the words at you and at other times silky smooth and warming. All the songs deal with the usual perils of life and love, the heartbreak and rejection entwined with the periods of elation and happiness that can only come with finding love. There's a hint of Morrissey and The Smiths elaborate playfulness with words, the images that are conjured up similar in vain; "Why do they come when it's always raining" from Walking For Two Hours bringing to mind dark Sundays on a small coastal town. That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy brings to mind dark family secrets and sounding like some Ian Banks novel: "The kids are on fire in the bedroom" twisted against the oddly haunting "I'm fourteen and you know I learnt the easy way". And She Would Darken The Memory also feels as though it's dealing with some childhood trauma, "Head up dear, the rabbit might die" followed quickly by "I'm putting up with your constant whine and I won't last too long" sounds dark and sinister, all set against the backdrop of charged guitars and crashing drums, the vocals dip into dark howls and yet hit rosy highs.... Read more ›
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
An honest and hearfelt piece of work underpinned throughout by a peculiarly Scottish sensibility. Their finely honed negotiations between noise and melody are, considering the age of the players, pretty remarkable. If reference points are needed the obvious starting point is My Bloody Valentine, but in here there are also traces of early Cure, even folk music (they make effective use of an accordian). Epic in a decidedly melancholic fashion. The best record this year by far.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By J. Jenkins
Format:Audio CD
The debut full length by the Twilight Sad is both trenchantly uncommercial and the sound of a cult band waiting to happen.
Blending a lo-fi aesthetic with walls of shoegaze guitar and more traditional instrumentation like piano and organ, the songs here eschew conventional verse/chorus/verse structure, instead achieveing their potency through building layers of noise on repeated motifs and subtly shifting lines of melody. Frontman James Graham's defiantly Scottish vocals won't be to everyone's taste either, (although bands like Idlewild and Arab Strap have proven this need not be a barrier to an audience) but they certainly help lend the songs here some of their menace.
Now, I have no wish to stereotype the Scots as an aggressive people, but the image of Graham swaggering toward you, alternately murmuring and barking lines like 'And does your fear not grow when when you see that you're all mine...with a knife in your chest,' is impossibly intimidating. When the album closes with the woozy, narcotic hum of Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, the effect is of the carthasis following an act of violence.
Blending a lo-fi aesthetic with walls of shoegaze guitar and more traditional instrumentation like piano and organ, the songs here eschew conventional verse/chorus/verse structure, instead achieveing their potency through building layers of noise on repeated motifs and subtly shifting lines of melody. Frontman James Graham's defiantly Scottish vocals won't be to everyone's taste either, (although bands like Idlewild and Arab Strap have proven this need not be a barrier to an audience) but they certainly help lend the songs here some of their menace.
Now, I have no wish to stereotype the Scots as an aggressive people, but the image of Graham swaggering toward you, alternately murmuring and barking lines like 'And does your fear not grow when when you see that you're all mine...with a knife in your chest,' is impossibly intimidating. When the album closes with the woozy, narcotic hum of Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, the effect is of the carthasis following an act of violence.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I really enjoyed this album - it has not been far from my CD player since I bought it on a whim - and would certainly recommend it to anyone who likes music with loud guitars or heartfelt beauty.
The tracks have a fragile loveliness, yet manage to build perfectly to powerful climaxes.
Other reviewers mention the unabashed Scottish accent and this completely adds to the charm.
The tracks have a fragile loveliness, yet manage to build perfectly to powerful climaxes.
Other reviewers mention the unabashed Scottish accent and this completely adds to the charm.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By K-Pax
Format:Audio CD
Not for a long time have I been as genuinely excited by a Scottish band as I have listening to 'The Twilight Sad'. There is no mistaking the Scottish accent in the vocals but this is a good thing and adds a raw and biting element to the proceedings. The voice reminds me a little of a young Midge Ure but this is as far from Ultravox as you'll get. The lyrics hit you hard e.g. "the children are on fire, in the bedroom" and while the guitar work is in your face, the melodies shine through. On my way back to Scotland from America, looking across the sky, the 1st track really hit me hard when it came on and I felt a patriotic rush of adrenaline. As a debut album, I don't think many bands could better this and the only sadness I have is that this band's talent may never be appreciated.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Yossarian
Format:Audio CD
This is a must buy if your musical tastes are a bit more adventurous than most. I first heard them live doing an acoustic hub session for Gideon Coe earlier this year and they were brilliant, especially their use of accordian to embellish their songs. As Gideon Coe said the versions they had just done were quite different from the album so I thought I need to check the album out. Well I'm glad I did, it is an absolute belter, the other reviewers have done an excellent job in describing the sound of the band (except the clown who says it sounds like Groundskeeper Willie) suffice to say buy it and play LOUD.
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3.7 out of 5 stars
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Epic and Anthemic,
From honing their skills in Glasgow's less than glamourous 13th Note venue to universal blogosphere acclaim via some well-recieved SXSW performances, in just over three years. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Micky67
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 Stars & No Wonder
The Twilight Sad's debut may be the finest debut album by a Scottish band for many a year.
It's delicate opening is a teaser only, as when the guitars kick in, it takes... Read more
It's delicate opening is a teaser only, as when the guitars kick in, it takes... Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2009 by C. Skinner
1.0 out of 5 stars
Proclaimers with feedback
I almost bought this based on reviews, that goodness I checked them out on myspace first. It sounds like the Proclaimers with some dodgy backing band.
Published on 27 Oct 2008 by I. Gillan
5.0 out of 5 stars
my fave album of 2007
this album is the work of geniuses. it has a cold, dark feeling throughout and this is what gives it a real edge. Read more
Published on 23 Oct 2007 by S. Reynolds
5.0 out of 5 stars
good good goood!
Superb debut album from a band in touch with life....
Nice to see the scottish accent not hidden .
Give it a try .....tres bien
Nice to see the scottish accent not hidden .
Give it a try .....tres bien
Published on 14 May 2007 by davidsmusic
2.0 out of 5 stars
Groundskeeper Willie-esque
I'm sorry, but I cannot get my head around James Graham's uncompromisingly thick Scottish accent. It's like listening to Groundskeeper Willie from The Simpsons. Read more
Published on 3 May 2007 by DMc
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