Four albums in, each one distinctively styled but subtly different, The Twilight Sad have distilled the best aspects of what's gone before into one new record that tempts pop tunes into a uniquely shadowy world.
There are still elements of the electro pulse that drove predecessor No One Can Ever Know, but they play a supporting role to the imposing wall of sound that made 2009's Forget The Night Ahead such a big, thrilling beast of an album. Tactile noise is again at the core, with James Graham's voice, Mark Devine's drums and Andy MacFarlane's guitar placed above, below, behind and between. At times folk music roots show in the melodies that roam across the post-rock soundscapes (It Was Never The Same, Leave The House), while at others the opposing factors that create tension in the album title find musical form in, say, the bright glockenspiel hook on a song bleakly called Pills I Swallow or in the juxtaposition of piano heartbreak/caffeine heartbeat on Sometimes I Wish I Could Fall Asleep.
Alan Morrison
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