Lexington show, Wednesday 5th August
The Kilsyth quartet have been busy previewing the new songs on both sides of the Atlantic with US dates supporting Mogwai, and a UK headline tour in May which included some heart-stoppingly intense – and intensely loud - performances at three Stag & Dagger events, and two Great Escape appearances. Speaking to Pitchfork last month, singer James Graham acknowledged that an expectant audience now awaits their sophomore:"Now people know us, there's a bit more pressure. Before there was no expectations. Now people want to come and see this band they really like, so you think, god, we've got to play really well tonight!”
In lyrical terms ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ is a darker set even than it’s hallowed predecessor ‘Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’, James Graham’s portentous knack for unsettling lines, giving muforcefully delivered in his own Caledonian burr remaining very much on point. Speaking to Clashmusic.com at the start of the year James cautioned; "As with the last record, we aren't ch away with the themes because we like the listener to relate the songs back themselves and maybe try and figure it all out on their own. Plus, it’s personal. I would like to keep it close to my chest. What I will say is that it’s lyrically based around where we live, people we know, and the antics I have got up to and the situations I have found myself in, and being none too proud of myself. It's also about finding and losing people, friends and loved ones ." And to The Skinny: “We have definitely moved on from ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’, musically and lyrically." Guitarist Andy MacFarlane concurs “It is a step forward from the first record, the song writing and the sound of the band has moved on from that time, which is something we'll always try and do, we don't want to ever stand still and make records that sound like each other.”
Produced and mixed by ex-Delgados’ man Paul Savage and guitarist Andy MacFarlane at the legendary Chem19 Studios in Glasgow, musically too, the new record is no less tumultuous, MacFarelane’s distinctive tremelo’d guitar creating seismic shifts between melancholy introspection and explosive release, the cacophony broadening to accommodate the band’s most melodic and yet also most thrillingly discordant moments yet. Here the influence of artists like early 80’s Cure, Neu, Wire or even Shellac are just as prominent as longer-standing comparisons to MBV or Joy Division. The album also features the talents of ex-Aerogramme member, Dok, who also contributes guitar and keys to the live line-up, and My Latest Novel’s Laura McFarlane who plays violin on ‘The Room’ and ‘That Birthday Present’.
“The recording was approached differently this time”, says MacFarlane “We made a point of staying home to write. Writing on tour is a bad idea, so we stayed in Scotland for the full process. It let us go home after sessions - if we weren't getting snowed-in the studio - and we had more time to experiment and develop the ideas we had. We'd make a lot of use of an old, half-working, Roland Space Echo that we'd plug the vocals, noise strings and piano through, that would get an out of tune effect, like some of the early krautrock recordings. All the reverbs are natural, which were done by mic'ing up inside the studio walls and rooms on the other side of the building to get the drum sound. Three bass heads were blown up [in the process]. There are no big, long delayed guitars, just a lot more noisy ones and there were a few songs that maxed out the desk because of the amount that's on there!”
The Twilight Sad announce details of their hugely anticipated sophomore ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ album. Already trailed by opener ‘Reflections Of The Television’ - which dropped on Pitchfork during May, and forthcoming single ‘I Became A Prostitute’ on August 3rd, the new album will be released in the UK on 5th October. The full track list runs as follows:
1. Reflection Of The Television
2. I Became A Prostitute
3. Seven Years of Letters
4. Made To Disappear
5. Scissors
6. The Room
7. That Birthday Present
8. Floorboards Under The Bed
9. Interrupted
10. The Neighbours Can't Breathe
11. At The Burnside
New Album ‘Forget The Night Ahead’
Cd/ vinyl/ digital formats released5th October 2009
FatCat Cat. No. fatcd77/ fatda77/ fatlp77
Next London shows: 'Independence Day' @ ICA tomorrow, Thursday 9th July*
The Lexington, Wednesday 5th August
*with We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kill It Kid
The Twilight Sad is: Andy MacFarlane (guitars)/ James Graham (vocals)/ Mark Devine (drums)/ Craig Orzel (bass). http://myspace.com/thetwilightsad
In lyrical terms ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ is a darker set even than it’s hallowed predecessor ‘Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’, James Graham’s portentous knack for unsettling lines, giving muforcefully delivered in his own Caledonian burr remaining very much on point. Speaking to Clashmusic.com at the start of the year James cautioned; "As with the last record, we aren't ch away with the themes because we like the listener to relate the songs back themselves and maybe try and figure it all out on their own. Plus, it’s personal. I would like to keep it close to my chest. What I will say is that it’s lyrically based around where we live, people we know, and the antics I have got up to and the situations I have found myself in, and being none too proud of myself. It's also about finding and losing people, friends and loved ones ." And to The Skinny: “We have definitely moved on from ‘Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters’, musically and lyrically." Guitarist Andy MacFarlane concurs “It is a step forward from the first record, the song writing and the sound of the band has moved on from that time, which is something we'll always try and do, we don't want to ever stand still and make records that sound like each other.”
Produced and mixed by ex-Delgados’ man Paul Savage and guitarist Andy MacFarlane at the legendary Chem19 Studios in Glasgow, musically too, the new record is no less tumultuous, MacFarelane’s distinctive tremelo’d guitar creating seismic shifts between melancholy introspection and explosive release, the cacophony broadening to accommodate the band’s most melodic and yet also most thrillingly discordant moments yet. Here the influence of artists like early 80’s Cure, Neu, Wire or even Shellac are just as prominent as longer-standing comparisons to MBV or Joy Division. The album also features the talents of ex-Aerogramme member, Dok, who also contributes guitar and keys to the live line-up, and My Latest Novel’s Laura McFarlane who plays violin on ‘The Room’ and ‘That Birthday Present’.
“The recording was approached differently this time”, says MacFarlane “We made a point of staying home to write. Writing on tour is a bad idea, so we stayed in Scotland for the full process. It let us go home after sessions - if we weren't getting snowed-in the studio - and we had more time to experiment and develop the ideas we had. We'd make a lot of use of an old, half-working, Roland Space Echo that we'd plug the vocals, noise strings and piano through, that would get an out of tune effect, like some of the early krautrock recordings. All the reverbs are natural, which were done by mic'ing up inside the studio walls and rooms on the other side of the building to get the drum sound. Three bass heads were blown up [in the process]. There are no big, long delayed guitars, just a lot more noisy ones and there were a few songs that maxed out the desk because of the amount that's on there!”
The Twilight Sad announce details of their hugely anticipated sophomore ‘Forget The Night Ahead’ album. Already trailed by opener ‘Reflections Of The Television’ - which dropped on Pitchfork during May, and forthcoming single ‘I Became A Prostitute’ on August 3rd, the new album will be released in the UK on 5th October. The full track list runs as follows:
1. Reflection Of The Television
2. I Became A Prostitute
3. Seven Years of Letters
4. Made To Disappear
5. Scissors
6. The Room
7. That Birthday Present
8. Floorboards Under The Bed
9. Interrupted
10. The Neighbours Can't Breathe
11. At The Burnside
New Album ‘Forget The Night Ahead’
Cd/ vinyl/ digital formats released5th October 2009
FatCat Cat. No. fatcd77/ fatda77/ fatlp77
Next London shows: 'Independence Day' @ ICA tomorrow, Thursday 9th July*
The Lexington, Wednesday 5th August
*with We Were Promised Jetpacks, Kill It Kid
'The Four Scotsman Of The Apocalypse' NME, 11th July 2009
‘Nothing short of mesmerising’Drowned in Sound, 16th May 2009
The Twilight Sad is: Andy MacFarlane (guitars)/ James Graham (vocals)/ Mark Devine (drums)/ Craig Orzel (bass). http://myspace.com/thetwilightsad
