The Twilight Sad 'Forget The Night Ahead'

The Twilight Sad are long time TracksandGigs favourites. Their debut album, released in 2007, was astonishingly assured for a first effort. Mixing passionate vocals with wall of sound guitars and pulsating drumming, it sounded like nothing else around and set the bar high for the follow up record.

A couple of EPs later and Kilsyth's finest are now back with their second full length album and 'Forget The Night Ahead' is quite some album. Lyrically as dark as dark can be, James Graham's words create a feeling of unease, trauma and regret, he doesn't tell stories, rather he plants words and phrases in your mind and creates an atmosphere. As with 'Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters' there are many references to childhood and past trauma, but the themes are ambiguous and somewhat enthralling.

Musically, this is a dense but cold record. Aside from the terrific, innovative noisy guitar, there are memorable basslines and some superb drumming. Opener 'Reflection of the Television' is dark and brooding, sounding like a track from their quieter EP 'Here It Never Snowed', just as it builds it flows into 'I Became A Prostitute', powerful and raw and just about the most anthemic they have ever sounded.

A sequence of fast, loud songs follow, 'Made To Disappear' is a highlight with it's "I only wanted some honest fun" refrain, after a forbidding instrumental, the album reaches a peak with 'The Room'. Built largely on a piano refrain and simple drum beat, the song builds slowly with ominous strings in the background, Graham sings "you're the Grandson's toy in the corner, don't tell anyone else", it is all menacing, disturbing but somehow quite beautiful, maybe the best song they have yet recorded.

There is no let up in the quality. 'Floorboards Under The Bed', started with Graham singing away from the mic, is similarly full of suspense and tension, whilst louder songs such as 'That Birthday Present' offer some release, in this case in the story of a hedonistic friend's spiral down.

Right through to the dark closer 'At The Burnside' this is an excellent album. Guitarist Andy MacFarlane does an excellent job of creating thick fogs of innovative guitar noise for Graham to sing over...and he has matured into a fine singer, knowing when to emote and when to tone it down a level. The mix between noisy numbers and the more minimal, tension filled tracks is just right. This is a powerful, dark but very listenable record.

9.4

['Forget The Night Ahead' is out now on Fat Cat. The Twilight Sad are touring the UK from next week]