Instore – The Twilight Sad at Rough Trade East London

The Twilight Sad, Rough Trade East London, 24th Jan 2019

12 years since their debut Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, The Twilight Sad sound fresher than ever. Their latest album, It Won/t Be Like This All The Time, released last week is receiving huge acclaim; it feels like maybe this is the time that The Twilight Sad will get the wider recognition they deserve. Filled with tracks that call to mind the drums of Joy Division with a nod to the dramatic melodies of post punk / electro, the album is a masterpiece of haunting songs that it’s easy to be absorbed by – put in on in the car and you’ll want to keep driving. Recent release Videograms sounds a little like Kraftwerk might have if they were born from the Scottish rather than German scene and the gloomy undertones throughout are surprisingly uplifting.

The Twilight Sad © 16 Beasley St Photography

Having recently completed dates supporting label mates Mogwai and before rejoining them alongside The Cure to play at the Glasgow Summer Sessions, the band have a headline tour of their own. During the last week, vocalist James Graham and guitarist Andy MacFarlane have been mesmerising fans with a run of acoustic sets played out in record shops across the UK. Last night brought them to Rough Trade East in London where a packed shop had the privilege of witnessing their stripped back set, kicking off with new track Shooting Dennis Hopper Shooting and including favourites like The Room and The Wrong Car. There is no doubting the power of the songs, even without the power of amplification and a full band – the performance was stunning. It’s clear that the band genuinely appreciate the ongoing support they receive; equally it’s an absolute pleasure to see and hear them play.

Now signed to Rock Action Records, their position at number 5 in the mid-week charts was indeed, as James said, a testament to independent labels and people loving music enough to go out and buy physical copies. Apparently their top 5 space has been scuppered by a band called Fleetwood Mac – I’m sure we wish them all the best in their career!

It’s easy at this stage in proceedings to say that this is one of the best albums released this year but it looks absolutely likely that this will still be the case come December. Stick with The Twilight Sad and it won’t be too long before you’ll be able to celebrate all of those fourteen autumns.