The Twilight Sad - Seven Years Of Letters [Single]

Fat Cat Records

October 27, 2009, 04:07 PM

Views: 245   Comments: 5

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Scotland has always delivered the goods when it's come to low-key indie rock, from Teenage Fanclub and The Jesus and Mary Chain through to Belle and Sebastian and The Delgados, the Scots have always had a very particular way with guitar based melancholy. The Twilight Sad follow this lineage with a melodic, widescreen sound that could have taken influence from any or all of the above.

The second single off their second album "Forget The Night Ahead," 'Seven Years Of Letters' builds gradually from humble beginnings before eventually pouring out of the speakers in a wash of shoe-gaze feedback and primal rhythms like Idlewild caught in a blizzard. The problem is for all it's aspirations, the song feels mistreated. It's a decent song with ideas above it's station. It feels like too much has been thrown at it and not enough has really stuck. Given a much more restrained mix there could have been something charming about this but it ends up sounding like a bit of a mess.

I think the band might have been trying too hard here to sound 'alternative' and it's true there is a debt to Sonic Youth in the dissonant feedback and squalling guitars. When Sonic Youth had a decent song though they let it speak for itself and here it feels like The Twilight Sad are just burying a perfectly passable indie-pop song in feedback for the mere sake of it. The mood of it very much recalls the songs from the late Remy Zero's debut album (be sure to check that out if you can but avoid the follow ups) in that it's oddly dusty sounding and beautiful in it's own way, but I think they went too far in this case.

I'd love to hear the album though as there is definite potential here.

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