The Twilight Sad / Goodnight Lenin
The Twilight Sad comprises James Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane,
(guitar/accordion/noise), Craig Orzel (bass), and Mark Devine (drums).
Forming in 2003, the band’s early shows saw them creating half-hour pieces of music with tape loops and toy instruments alongside bass, guitar and drums. These sonic adventures gradually evolved into the more traditional songwriting, a more overt inclination towards emotive, eloquent song that we see from The Twilight Sad now.
Deceptively simple songs are rendered transcendent. Bleached, overdriven guitars consistently ride a line between ambient and coruscating, working in tandem with an articulate, tumultuous rhythm section, portraying an awestruck, ragged sentimentality. Lyrically suggestive, ‘Fourteen Autumns…’ verges on the anthemic or celebrative, but is firmly rooted in the familiar, unsaid hurt behind day to day events. While the band’s recorded sound is intricately layered, live, they are an intense experience.
Goodnight Lenin – As the era of past outings ended we ventured into the forest to say goodnight to the pasture of our youth. The following winter was harsh and volatile alas we didn’t dare return to the forest. It eventually passed as did the spring and we woke to the scent of summer resting on our senses. We gathered our thoughts and stepped outside of the darkened room leaving our past triumphs to collect dust. With satchels in tow we climbed the hill which we had once walked to find the path we wished to travel. It seemed that months had passed and yet we were still to find our way. Our legs were tiring and the absence of motivation forced us to lie down and go back to sleep. As my head rested in the leaves i heard the sound of considered notes chiming beneath the earth. I alerted the sleeping and began to move the leaves and sure enough there it was; the path. We had been advancing in the right direction the entire time without even knowing. As we moved the earth to reveal the red brick we could see that the path was littered with words and notes which we collected and hurled into our satchels as we made a dash for the forest. We entered the grave yard, dragged our instruments from the ground and began to play.
