Scotland must have a way of affecting the bands it breeds, in a very specific and atmospheric way. The Twilight Sad, along with a number of other up-and-coming bands who embody the dark & stormy, fashionably moody, intrinsically brooding nature of the Scottish landscape, have been bringing this sound to the other side of the world since the mid-2000s. Although they're not the only ones making this type of monumentally moody indie rock (Frightened Rabbit and We Were Promised Jetpacks instantly come to mind), The Twilight Sad have a grasp of how to effectively convey their weighty subject matter, in a way that somehow makes them feel like the requisite elder statesmen of this emerging movement. They have class, they have finesse, and they certainly have the thundering presence that makes this album not only beautiful and dark and ominous, but also very raw and hard-hitting.
There's a dissonant noise that starts the album off, before thumping drums and a plodding baseline fade into the mix and it's only a matter of time before a lingering guitar line drenched in reverb chimes in to welcome the deep tenor vocals that are the trademark tell of this band's Scottish origins. "Reflection of The Television" is a fuzzy, trembling and instantly enrapturing opening track which bodes perfectly for what the rest of this album is all about. The main dichotomy of what The Twilight Sad attempt on this album (and more often than not achieve) is the contrasts between warmth and freezing cold- some of this record feels like cuddling beside a fireplace, other parts of this record feel like walking through a snowstorm. Yet, these two parts of who the band is, are equally represented and mixed together to achieve maximum impact. When the fuzz and the noise swells, a melody of hope usually materializes at just the moment when it feels everything might spin out of control and leave the listener frozen. But that's the point.
"Made To Disappear", the 4th track on the album, perfectly embodies these polarizing sides of the band. Starting off with a quietly strummed clean guitar, the swirling drums and bass soon crash in while the vocal takes the reins for a verse that swells into a beautifully echo-drenched chorus of dissonant notes and cathartic release. The song continues to move between these two extremes, and fades out with a repeated guitar phrase that screams quiet desperation as it tugs undeniably on heartstrings but resolves nothing. It leaves you hanging on, and if there's any emotional disturbance in your head or heart, it will be stirred and forced into the open. The song is raw but also measured, the band knows how to reign in the extremes but doesn't shy away from letting us taste the chaos first.
After the static and echo of the 5th track "Scissors" (which feels more like an interlude than a proper song), the record switches gears and presents us with it's most moody and minimalist offering, the gorgeously heartbreaking "The Room". Made up of mainly a lone insistently pounded piano chord progression and thumping drums over a pleading vocal line, The Twilight Sad distill the essence of their frosty emotional impact with this song. By the time the cathartic swollen ending builds and explodes, we are pushed to the edge of the proverbial angst-ridden cliff; just waiting and teetering as the music crashes and threatens to fuzz out into the ether, but soon drops right back down to just the lone drums and piano... and fades out. The storm starts slow, the blizzard attacks, and then it moves on; leaving nothing but unresolved feelings and destruction in it's wake. But "The Room" is beautiful, even through it's erratic highs and lows.
I could take you through the rest of the album, but that would be redundant. The Twilight Sad are able to conjure so many feelings and so palpably embody a dark and stormy night that it's almost impossible to continue to overstate this fact. It's not a perfect record, although it comes quite close. Forget The Night Ahead rewards repeated spins, and although it is initially hard to tell each song apart, keep at it. This is not an album that delivers immediate thrills. You have to be willing to live in it awhile, to take it with you and keep it close. The Twilight Sad don't only dodge the dreaded "sophomore slump" with this album, they actually turn it into their definitive statement... and it's not easy to Forget at all. Damn near impossible.
