THE TWILIGHT SAD – “FORGET THE NIGHT AHEAD” (Fat Cat Records)

The Twilight Sad made one hell of an impression on me with their debut album “Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters”. Following up an astounding debut album is a difficult thing with many bands suddenly blowing cold and losing the momentum they gained before.

So, The Twilight Sad step up to the challenge with their second album. Album opener “Reflection Of The Television” sets the scene with traces of Joy Division, My Bloody Valentine & Neu! It also points to the bands beautiful way with a song title.

James Graham really hits the spot as a vocalist, heartfelt but not melodramatic. He allows his Scottish accent to show heavily in his singing voice which makes him seem more believable as a vocalist, the man is not hiding or holding anything back.

The Twilight Sad craft songs that pack as much emotional punch as they have musical power or gravity. The songs are full blooded and mostly fairly noisy with rivers of roaring guitars howling away melodically a lot of the time.

They are not one-trick ponies, though, the track called “Floorboards Under The Bed” begins with James Graham’s haunted voice starts off unaccompanied before guitar feedback slowly builds up behind him and his voice is replaced by a piano. The music has been beautifully recorded with the reverberating acoustics of the room showing up in the vocals and piano.

So, what has changed since the debut album? The answer is, not that much. The sound is a little broader, the word “cunt” is not used anywhere (unlike on the debut where it popped out with alarming frequency) but otherwise it’s The Twilight Sad making their beautiful, dark music as before, which is definitely a very good thing.