The Twilight Sad
– SOUP KITCHEN, MANCHESTER –
I’ve spent the past few days downing lemsip, using all the toilet roll and refusing to take off my coat. Winter is here folks. Despite my immune system being at its weakest, there is something about this time of year that I love. There seem to be a few bands that I’d cite as ‘winter bands’, making theatrical, dark, atmospheric music to sooth me on this harsher, colder days. Scottish outfit The Twilight Sad are very much a band I’d call a winter band with their brooding, sometimes gothic take on indie rock. Tonight we’re sweating it out at a sold out Soup Kitchen, the first date of a small UK run for the band as they gear up to release their brilliantly titled fourth album Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave.
Not only am I pleased to be seeing The Twilight Sad tonight, we have support from fellow Glaswegians Errors. Errors are a band I’ve been a huge fan of since my uni days and after a quiet year it’s great to seethe open up tonight’s show with their unique brand of math/post rock infused electronica. Even though they play a standard half an hour support slot set, it doesn’t seem like their on stage for that long and now that they have several albums to choose from, it’s interesting to hear what they’ve pick out to play. In the five song set tonight, we get three tracks from their most recent LP Have Some Faith In Magic which all sound fantastic, set opener ‘Magna Encarta’ is a particular beauty to behold with its glacial synth tinkles. And the other two tracks are two new songs, both featuring a female vocalist! It’s clear that these new tunes are going in more shiny pop route, but done in a very slick, cool Errors style that doesn’t beg for world domination, but still are catchy enough with strong hooks and will hopefully excite fans new and old when their new record drops next year!
I’ve been lucky enough to have heard the new Twilight Sad LP and I think it’s full to brim of really strong songs and is probably their most instant set to date! So it’s great to hear the band play a sizeable chunk of tracks from the new record, opening with ‘Girl In The Corner’ which sounds like it could fit the soundtrack to the film ‘Drive’ with its warm 80’s synth line and Interpol esque guitar line. Frontman James puts on a very intense yet incredibly passionate performance, which is amazing to watch, he sings every word like its his last and shouts, scream and rocks back and forth off mic to a background of thunderous, regimented drum work and noisy, distorted shoe-gaze inspired guitars. For a Sunday night, tonight’s crowd are a pretty lively bunch, and I must admit, I find it hard to keep my eyes of one particularly drunken guy who spends the set dancing with another very drunken woman, who’s husband looks very unimpressed by the whole situation!
But anyway, back to the show, the set gives a perfect taste of The Twilight Sad, playing tracks from their four album catalogue, from dynamic and emotional cuts off their seminal debut ‘Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters’ to the synth-driven goth pop of ‘No One Can Ever Know’, Twilight Sad seem to give everyone want they want. The new songs fit really well against the older tracks, but there is definite a shimmer and urgency to them in which I hope others will pick up on and make this record their most successful to date. In short, The Twilight Sad are an excellent live band, loud, passionate and ultimately moving.
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I joined the Silent Radio family near the very start of my move to Manchester in 2012 and I'm still having the best time! During my stay here I've been in two noisy bands, had a not so noisy solo project, made a zine, started a blog and started a radio show. It's been productive to say the least and it's all been intersperse with a shit load of gig going and beer drinking. I would love it if you followed me on twitter @dr_brainless for excitable tweets about playing, watching and living new music.
