Review: The Twilight Sad - It's the Long Goodbye
- Matthew McLister
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
'It's the Long Goodbye' is an album that pulls no punches - painstakingly bleak, delivered with a winning combination of vulnerability and customary explosivity.
The Scottish indie underground of the late ‘00s was as healthy and fruitful as it ever had been. At the forefront stood three bands: Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad. The latter offered something distinct - a noisy, emotional punch and a heavy brogue, carrying the torch passed from the likes of Arab Strap and Mogwai a decade earlier.
Hailing from Kilsyth, just outside Glasgow, their 2007 debut album Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters sounded like an instant classic. James Graham’s unmistakable Scottish vocals cut through Andy MacFarlane’s dense shoegaze guitars, creating an ear-splitting wall of sound with a subtle folk undercurrent. It wasn’t long before they built a cult following on both sides of the Atlantic (a spine-tingling performance of ‘Cold Days from the Birdhouse’ on Seattle radio station KEXP in 2009 was this writer’s entry point!).
Four albums followed in the years since, each furthering their sonic evolution by incorporating industrial, post-punk and Krautrock elements to their customary racket. And more recently, a new lease of life came through supporting goth rock icons The Cure on their 2016 and 2023 worldwide tours.
They say good things come to those who wait and that’s certainly true of It's the Long Goodbye – The Twilight Sad’s first album in seven years. Functioning now as a duo between singer James Graham and guitarist Andy MacFarlane, the post-punk band’s fifth studio album is deeply personal and as vulnerable as it is ferocious. A devastating blend of crashing shoegaze, subtle electronic and melancholic soundscapes.
Recorded in just two weeks at Battery Studios in North West London and produced by MacFarlane, the album is shaped entirely by grief. The illness and passing of Graham’s mother form the album’s emotional core – a heavy depth that galvanises this gorgeous yet devastating album.
‘WAITING FOR THE PHONE CALL’ stands out immediately. Driven by ravey synths and pulsing beats, the song features a guest appearance from The Cure’s Robert Smith on guitar. Lyrically, it finds Graham awaiting news of his mother’s death and the impending anguish this call would have on him (“I'm sittin' in the front seat, head in my hands / Waitin' for the phone call, telling me I am gone”).
At the album’s mid-point, ‘DEAD FLOWERS’ is an expansive departure from what we’re offered elsewhere. An extended, Cure-esque extended intro and brooding synth/guitar soundscapes enthral throughout every second of the track’s 7-minutes.
Elsewhere, ‘ATTEMPT A CRASH LANDING - THEME’ confronts grief and the struggle with losing someone close to you. Synths glisten before inviting a full-frontal assault of soaring guitars and propulsive percussion, while Graham’s closing “Just tell me anything / Tell me anything” refrain lands a final gut-punching blow. On a similar note, reflective ballad ‘BACK TO FOURTEEN’ poignantly explores the immediate pain caused by his mother’s death: “mother may I lay down and cry, mother may I lay down and die?” pleads a grieving Graham.
It's the Long Goodbye is an album that pulls no punches. Its painstakingly bleak, delivered with a winning combination of vulnerability and customary explosivity. A powerful and truly wonderful return from The Twilight Sad.
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