Review: The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (or) talking with fireworks exploding

Posted on 31 May 2007 | 4 Comments

Filed Under: Album Reviews, Just Plain Rock, Post Rock

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On their latest album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters Glaswegian quartet The Twilight Sad (maybe unsurprisingly) fuse the sounds of Scottish folk music with the swirling layered guitars of bands like My Bloody Valentine. It is a gloriously melancholy album that envelops you like a dense fog with waves of fuzzy droning guitars and the soft vocals, vivid lyrics, and thick Scottish accent of singer James Graham.

The album doesn’t force itself upon you but (rather) it more or less washes over you like crashing waves hitting a rocky shore; slowly building to a crescendo of distortion only to gently recede and repeat. It is melodic and memorable without being in-your-face catchy. It is also too upbeat (despite not really being upbeat) to be called shoegaze. Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters is a folk record paired with the combustible dynamics and huge choruses of bands like the Pixies and mire that all in hazy atmospherics.

All in all, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters is a fantastic album both lyrically and sonically. It is out now on Fat Cat.

MP3 | The Twilight Sad – Cold Days From The Birdhouse Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
MP3 | The Twilight Sad – Mapped By What Surrounded Them Fourteen Autumns & fifteen Winters

Comments

1 Anonymous - 419 days ago I am totally loving this record.

2 Bill V - 419 days ago Just about my favorite record this year!

3 China - 419 days ago Definitely my favorite of the year thus far. Your review, though brief, was pretty spot on.

On a side note, your blog design is beautiful!

4 Clark - 419 days ago This band are ace! If you haven't checked them out already you should try and track down the Fields album (they're quite similar). Keep up the good work :)