The Twilight Sad I never really got. Though I've heard this new release by 'em and it's making much more sense to me now. I'm sure you'll be delighted by this fellow readers. 'Here, It Never Snowed, Afterwards It Did' is a 6 track mini album which is mainly reworkings of tracks from their debut album. I think the problem I had with 'em last time I heard them was the vocals. I'm not an enormous fan of accents in my vocals and this guy has the most Scottish sounding voice you've ever heard. Get past the Proclaimers style accent to find some layered rousing guitar music which is actually very good. Hints of My Bloody Valentine, Sigur Ros, the Mary Chain, Big Country all mixed together to make a surprising record. Rousing is the word.... I've said it already but it sums this up perfectly. I love the way the songs build up and the impassioned vocals hurl themselves all over the music all Scottishly. The melodies and tunes and nothing but striking... I'm going to have to re-evaulate the album no after this!! Also you get a Daniel Johnston cover of 'Some Things Last A Long Time' which is done rather well. A fantastic 6 tracker!!
Love this record? Hate it? Tell us.
What their label says...
Though ‘Here It Never Snowed…’ stands up convincingly as a
self-contained six track mini-album, the concept originated from
off-the-cuff reworkings of songs from ‘Fourteen Autumns, Fifteen
Winters’, adapted to accommodate certain settings as they toured last
year. The resultant set of recordings shows not only a band full of
ideas, embracing the opportunity to recontextualise and create fresh
material, invigorated by any imposed restrictions - the recordings also
re-focus the listeners attention on the strength of the songs
themselves. Epic in scope and equally as intense, the band are
inspired by a diverse range of music from Van Dyke Parks to Phil
Spector, Daniel Johnston, and beyond. Yet The Twilight Sad are
unmistakably their own band. At times recalling peers such as Beirut
or The Arcade Fire in it’s panoramic intensity, ‘Here It Never Snowed…’
is perhaps closer in spirit to Joe Meek’s eerie homespun soundscapes,
suggesting worlds of possibility, hope and isolation. The record
also features two new tracks - a sympathetic but wholly original take
on Daniel Johnston’s heartfelt paean to lost love ‘Some Things Last A
Long Time’, and the title track itself, ‘Here It Never Snowed.
Afterwards It Did’.
