The Twilight Sad '...Killed My Parents and Hit The Road'

I may have said this before, but The Twilight Sad can do no wrong.

They followed up 2007's revelatory debut '14 Autumns and 15 Winters' with a mini-album 'Here It Never Snowed...' which showed a completely different side to their sound, offering slower, tension filled versions of some of their songs. Now, they return with a compilation of live tracks, instrumentals and covers released to fund their participation in a European tour with Mogwai.

There are four live versions of tracks from '14 Autumns...' recorded at a gig in Glasgow, all sounding absolutely great and truly ear-shredding. 'Cold Days From The Birdhouse' in particular starts slow and brooding but you are just waiting for the crescendo to hit and when it does the explosion of noise and feedback just makes you wish you'd been at the gig. A live cover of Joy Division's 'Twenty Four Hours' is similar, starting off with an almost jaunty bassline it is drenched in guitar noise before the first minute is over, somehow James Graham's vocal still manages to hold the attention, sounding in turns aggressive and then sensitive.

The cover of The Smiths' 'Half A Person' meanwhile is gentle and acoustic. Their take on Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Modern Romance' is quite brilliant, Graham sings softly over a guitar refrain, all sounding wonderfully intimate.

For the third straight release The Twilight Sad sound confident and adventurous. Their next album proper, due in 2009, should be quite something.

9.0

['The Twilight Sad Killed My Parents and Hit The Road' is streaming now at Fat Cat Records's website and is out on mp3 and cd on 8th December from indie stores only (way to go!)]