CREDIT: THE TWILIGHT SAD
Gloomy weather calls for gloomy music right? Nobody Wants to be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave fits the bill as seasons change and we transition into winter.

Make no mistake; Scottish band The Twilight Sad has absolutely nothing to do with the Twilight franchise. So if you’re hoping for a vampire fan fiction – you’re going to be disappointed.

These indie noise-rockers are based out of Scotland and have been making records for just over a decade. Although clearly influenced by shoegaze music, it is hard to label the band as belonging to any one specific genre.

All of the past albums have distinct stylistic differences, ranging from orchestral arrangements to synthesizer driven productions.

The band’s latest album Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave – released October 27 – feels like a collective blend of all the band’s various sounds. Almost as if it were constructed as a greatest hits record pertaining to all of their genres.

Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave sounds like a sadder, more ambient version of fellow Scottish band, We Were Promised Jetpacks.

The album’s first song “There’s a Girl in the Corner” opens with a simple guitar riff that quickly gives way to a collection of gloomy synthesizers and concludes with a wooly chorus of guitars bearing a huge stadium sound.

Sonically, this song serves as a nod to their previous electronic inspired album, and an introduction to the more guitar focused album about to unfold.

The succeeding tracks are slightly more upbeat. Crisp drums seem to punch through the wall of sound created by the ambient guitars and dissonant bells, which carry throughout the album.

The Twilight Sad’s songs usually start off quite glum and somber before building into a wall of sound that even Phil Spector would be proud of.

This wall of sound is aided by the accumulative reverb effect on nearly every instrument in the band’s arsenal.

Even James Graham – the singer – dons the veil of reverb. As nice as his Scottish accent may be, the gratuitous amounts of echoes and ambience make it challenging to make out what he is actually singing about. This prevents listeners from focusing too much on the lyrical content, and forces them embracing the songs as a whole composition.

When the focus is shifted away from the lyrics, you can really appreciate how melancholy the voice naturally is. The sadness that Graham can convey allows the band to thrash around in a stormy cloud of ambience while still remaining true to the gloominess that precedes them.

As a result of being covered in a blanket noise, there is nothing particularly catchy on this record.

If you like being affected by the music you listen to, however, this will definitely put you in a sad and introspective state of mind as you watch the oncoming frost cover your front lawn.

As a whole, this is a good album to listen to as we slowly let go of our denial and accept that the impending doom and gloom of winter is upon us.

Rating: 3 out of 5