SEAL ON PSYCHEDELICS

The Twilight Sad // No One Can Ever Know // February 6 // Fat Cat

Scotland is a dark and moody place at the best of times. Luckily throughout the years they have offered a number of bands that managed to rock the fuck out. From Idlewild’s stadium euphoria to Dananananaykroyd’s moshpit madness, they have shown people throughout the UK how to have fun. But there is no running away from the fact that a lot of the bands play up to the Scottish stereotypes. They pick the gloomy, maudlin path. Tell me, what do you expect from a band with a name like The Twilight Sad?

No One Can Ever Know is their third album. It takes its title from a lyric in the second track and one of the highlights Dead City, a song that sounds like Editors trying their best at Scottish accents. Misleading, as the album is much more than the usual stadium filler that rock bands such as Editors aim for on their third albums. A lot of it is introverted, yet open ended. It’s not the sort of music that should be played in stadiums for masses but it’s not for little rooms either. If No One Can Ever Know painted a picture it would be a cold winter night, under the moonlight, deep in some desolate forest. The songs ooze chill and solitude and easily justifies the use of words twilight and sad in the band’s name.

Despite all that, this is a record that is very easy to enjoy even for people who aren’t into dark music. It deals in the approachable darkness and wears its influences on its sleeves, yet it doesn’t delve into the mass pleasing areas that bands like White Lies have made their home. Sick, the follow up to Dead City, might easily be a lost Radiohead track from Hail To The Thief sessions. Don’t Move mirrors the early post punk perfected by Joy Division. The songwriting is strong throughout the LP but the sounds and influences are dated and make me feel like I’m listening to a lost album from the post punk revival explosion of 2005 or whenever that exactly happened. In the current indie landscape where guitar bands try to capture the energy of garage rock it’s nice to hear more of what made the middle of last decade so good, yet I don’t think it’s anywhere near the time for the revival of it. And despite it all, the downbeat No One Can Ever Know comes across as mildly original in the times when guitar groups are expected to make noise instead of writing music.

The Twilight Sad’s third LP shows the fruits of a once promising band, band that is now more than ready for big crowds. No One Can Ever Know follows a singular formula that will crush the band if they don’t evolve on their next record but all in all, for the time being it works in The Twilight Sad’s favour as a lot of indie rock fans who were left in the dark ever since post punk revival movement evaporated are their for the taking, and it’s only the band’s choice where they’ll lead the masses.