The Twilight Sad

The Twilight Sad

The Twilight Sad are a Scottish indie rock group from Kilsyth, United Kingdom, active since 2003. Their core line-up includes James Graham on vocals, Andy MacFarlane on guitar and keyboards, and Mark Devine on drums, with Craig Orzel, Martin Doherty, Grant Hutchison and James Graham also listed among the group’s members. The band’s sound is associated with indie rock, post-punk and rock, and across its recordings it also draws on shoegaze, post-rock and folk elements.

Formation and early work

The band forms in late 2003 and begins by playing a pair of shows at Glasgow’s 13th Note. In its early period, it creates extended pieces using guitars, bass, drums, theremin, tape loops from films, old folk and country songs, effects pedals, toy keyboards, thumb pianos, saws, computer games and heavy noise, in an effort to find a distinctive sound. After those performances, it turns down many further gig offers and becomes more studio-focused, spending spare time writing and shaping new material.

In September 2005, the group records a four-song demo using a 24-track desk and sends it to Fat Cat Records in Brighton. Alex Knight, one of the label’s co-founders, watches the band’s third gig in Glasgow and signs it on the spot.

Recordings and releases

The Twilight Sad’s first official release arrives in November 2006 with a US-only EP titled The Twilight Sad. That release helps draw attention to the band and leads to performances at CMJ 2006 and SXSW 2007.

The debut album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, follows in 2007. It is recorded over three days and uses the first songs the band has ever written. The album combines post-rock and post-punk with delayed shoegaze guitars and folk elements, and it receives strong attention from independent music media, becoming a reference point in the Scottish indie scene.

In June 2008, the band issues the EP Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did, which includes informal reworkings of songs from the debut album, the title track and a cover of Daniel Johnston, one of the group’s main influences. The release is shaped by a performance at London’s Union Chapel, where noise restrictions lead to a more stripped-back live arrangement using fan organ, glockenspiel and percussion.

At the end of 2008, the compilation Killed My Parents and Hit the Road appears to help fund a tour with Mogwai. It includes live recordings, acoustic material, previously unreleased tracks, new demos and covers of songs by The Smiths, Joy Division and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The second album, Forget The Night Ahead, is released in 2009. Its recording process involves the band abandoning effect pedals and working with natural reverb through early krautrock techniques, including miking inside studio walls and in rooms on the other side of the building to capture the drums. Around this time, bassist Craig Orzel leaves to pursue other projects, and Johnny Docherty of Take a Worm for a Walk Week replaces him in the live setting. In 2010, the band releases the EP The Wrong Car, which includes two B-sides from the Forget sessions and remixes by Mogwai and Errors.

No One Can Ever Know, the third album, appears in 2012. It marks a major stylistic shift, moving away from delayed guitars and towards vintage analogue synthesizers. The record is made in February and March 2011 at The Pool studios in London, with production assistance from Andrew Weatherall. The band then continues to develop this more electronic direction on later releases, including Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave in 2014 and It Won/t Be Like This All the Time in 2019.

Live sound and approach

The Twilight Sad’s recorded work is layered and melody-heavy, while its live performances are described as more intense and direct, turning the detail of the studio recordings into a louder wall of sound. This contrast is deliberate and forms part of the band’s approach from the start.