The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
[FatCat]

From honing their skills in Glasgow's less than glamourous 13th Note venue to universal blogosphere acclaim (via some well-recieved SXSW performances, in just over three years), The Twilight Sad's rise has been remarkable.

Such is the buzz about this band that even if you lived in a cave on Mars, you will have heard of this Scottish quartet. With the sad demise of AC Acoustics and Arab Strap and Aerogramme's imminent departure, 'Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Summers' is the shot in the arm Scotland's music scene needs right now.

Employing the wall of sound tactics of Sigur Ros, but combining it with the energy of early Idlewild, The Twilight Sad have come across a winning formula that has seen them explode in the US. Now the rest of the world seems to be catching on too.

Of course, everyone loves a Scottish accent and frontman James Graham has one of the thickest dialects yet. His vocals recall both Idlewild's Roddy Woomble and even Morrissey at times, albeit a Scottish version. However, dig a little deeper and this album provides some great moments that tend to veer into monolithic slabs of distortion heavy indie rock.

The Twilight Sad is said to be an intense live experience, but the over-driven guitar work on 'Walking For Two Hours', hints at how powerful this band's sound can be. Although most of the tracks follow the same tactic, combining white noise with soaring choruses has propelled The Twilight Sad into the limelight. This is not the time to start deconstructing their sound.

'Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Soared', starts with monumental waves of discordant guitar and tumbling percussion and weaves between this segment and a more calming verse. It's like Mogwai and Arab Strap sharing a stage and fighting with one another to be heard. But then, the likes of 'Mapped By What Surrounded Them' and 'And She Would Darken The Memory' offer up insanely catchy choruses that will have you singing at the top of your voice.

Using a fairly simple quiet/loud aesthetic, The Twilight Sad have created one hell of a melodic racket in 'Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". Building on the promise of 2006's Max Richter produced self-titled Ep, I challenge anyone not to enjoy this album. Let yourself be swayed and sing along with your best Scottish accent. Epic and anthemic, sizzling guitars and soaring melodies, this is superb stuff from these young Scots.

Track Listing
1. Cold Days From The Birdhouse
2. That Summer, At Home I had Become The Invisible Boy
3. Walking For Two Hours
4. Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard
5. Talking With Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed
6. Mapped By What Surrounded Them
7. And She Would Darken The Memory
8. I'm Taking The Train Home
9. Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters