The Twilight Sad is an indie rock band from Kilsyth, Scotland, comprising James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar), Craig Orzel (bass) and Mark Devine (drums). The band have released two full-length albums. Their 2007 debut, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, drew widespread critical acclaim, while their second album, Forget the Night Ahead, was released in 2009.

History

Beginnings

The foundation for the group started when vocalist James Graham met guitarist Andy MacFarlane in high school and went on to form a cover band with some friends, which included drummer Mark Devine. After graduating school, they decided to take it more seriously. In late 2003, MacFarlane met bassist Craig Orzel in a bus stop and invited him to join the newly formed band.

They performed two highly experimental shows at The 13th Note in Glasgow, that revolved around 30-minutes noise jams with guitars, bass, drums, theremin, tape loops from films and old folk and country songs, effects pedals, toy keyboards, thumb pianos and computer games. Afterwards, they decided to take a more traditional approach, which led them to write their first song: "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy"

In September 2005, they produced a 4-song demo with a 24-track desk, trying to get the best representation as possible, sent it over to Brighton-based Fat Cat Records. Alex Knight, co-founder of the label, went to Glasgow to watch the band perform their third gig and signed them on the spot.

The band credit Planet Sound for giving them their first review, when a demo of their song "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" received a 9/10 rating from the magazine in 2005. Singer, James Graham, remarked "That was the first review we ever had... we were thrilled. It gave us a lot of confidence we were on the right path." They later assembled those early demos in the form of The Twilight Sad , an US-only EP released in 2006, then proceeded to play the fourth gig of their career at New York's CMJ Music Marathon. During this time the band also toured with Micah P. Hinson and participated in 2007's SXSW before their debut was released.

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Main article: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Their debut studio album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters was released in 2007, featuring production from guitarist Andy MacFarlane and mixed by Peter Katis. It received good critical reception from the independent media. The album was lauded as 2007's album of the year in Planet Sound and The Skinny Magazine, in Scotland.

Inspired by a stripped down performance at London's Union Chapel, they reworked some of the songs of the album for the Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did EP.

During this time, the band supported acts such as Mogwai, The Smashing Pumpkins, Snow Patrol, David Pajo, Battles, Beirut and Idlewild.

Forget the Night Ahead

Main article: Forget the Night Ahead

In December 2008, Graham told The Skinny that the band: "have definitely moved on from Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, musically and lyrically. One thing that I can promise is that the lyrics are very dark, but you might have to look into them a bit to realise. They are mainly based around things that have happened to me over the past two years, revolving mainly around losing people and being none too proud or happy with myself about my antics and situations I’ve found myself in."

Musically they describe it as "noisier and bigger", where they experimented with a lot of instruments and different sounds, including fire extinguishers. About the progression from their debut album, they've noted "The songs on the first album were the first proper songs we had ever written together, so we were always going to progress from that. We've developed as songwriters since the first record and we definitely tried to make it feel like a complete record instead of a bunch of songs just thrown together."

Music Style and Influences

When asked to described their debut album, Graham says the band likes to see their songs as folk with layers of noise, as they are based on experiences that have happened to them, around their hometowns or people they know. They often cite the works of Daniel Johnston, Serge Gainsbourg, Phil Spector, Arab Strap and Leonard Cohen as influences.

In an October 2009 interview with The Fly Magazine, they admitted that "we’re still at the stage where we don’t really know where we are in this whole music industry thing. We know people like us, but we don’t really know where we fit in or, if we go to certain places, up or not. [...] It’s not like we’re a stadium band. We’re not a lads band, like Oasis or something. We’re not a scenestery band, and yet we’re not a pure experimental band either. Obviously we’re noisy, and stuff, but we write proper songs as well."

Where the band’s recorded sound is layered with many melodies, their live sound is a more intense experience with a more visceral wall of noise, something the band wanted to do all along. “We like having the contrast between the record and playing live. There are a lot more instruments on the record. There’s only four of us in the band, so we have to keep it as simple as possible. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like going to see a band that sounds just like their album. That’s what we try not to do.”

Although the band's music is generally described as anthemic and arena-friendly, they are quick to say their ambition is quite simple: "We don't want to be festival headliners, we just want to make enough money that we can stay in a band and keep making music."

Members

Core Members

• James Graham - vocals (2003-present)
• Andy MacFarlane - guitar (2003-present)
• Craig Orzel - bass (2003-present)
• Mark Devine - drums (2003-present)

Live Members

• Martin "Dok" Doherty - keyboards, various instruments (2008-present)

Discography

Studio Albums

• Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (2007)
• Forget the Night Ahead (2009)

EPs

• The Twilight Sad (2006)
• Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did (2008)

Compilations

• Killed My Parents and Hit the Road (2008)

Singles

• "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" (2007)
• "And She Would Darken the Memory" (2007)
• "I Became a Prostitute" (2009)
• "Seven Years of Letters" (2009)

Song appearances

• 2008 - Saints Row 2 - "And She Would Darken the Memory"

Side Projects and Collaborations

Under the name Orzelda, bassist Craig Orzel released a pish solo album, The Wee Shop is Filled With Delights, in 2008.

Guitarist Andy MacFarlane composed The Wea-ther Is Bad for Semicondutor's short film, Brillant Noise, a film pieced together from archive NASA footage of the sun’s surface. The song was later included in their Killed My Parents and Hit the Road compilation.

Singer James Graham appears on the live album from Frightened Rabbit, Quietly Now!. Graham appears on the track "Keep Yourself Warm".

External links

• Official Site
• The Twilight Sad at FatCat Records
• Interview at The Line of Best Fit
• Late Night Wallflower Interview

References

1. Metacritic: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
2. Scotland on Sunday:Tripping the light fantastic
3. The Line of Best Fit: Q&A with The Twilight Sad
4. Drowned in Sound Artist Page
5. Teletext Music News
6. Teletext Music News
7. Drowned in Sound: bright horizons follow fifteen winters
8. In the studio: The Twilight Sad
9. Clash Magazine: The Twilight Sad Studio Diary
10. SoundFreak Interview, July 31st, 09
11. The Twilight Sad: Live at The Borderline, London (10/05/2007)
12. The Fly Magazine: The 'Light Fantastic
13. Impose: Twilight Sad’s fly by night summer stopover
14. BBC: T time for new bands at festival
15. Orzelda MySpace
16. http://www.winningspermparty.com/orzelda/ Album synopsis at Winning Sperm Party.
17. http://www.semiconductorfilms.com/WorldsInFluxDVD.html
18. http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/145372-frightened-rabbit-to-release-live-album