The Twilight Sad

It was always going to be interesting to see how the Twilight Sad were going to approach the supposedly "difficult" second album. Just like fellow Scots Mogwai, they appeared on the scene with a stunning debut that used something of a formula with incredible effectiveness. But then what: more of the same or dramatic reinvention? Well, on Forget The Night Ahead it's more of a subtle tuning of their approach. All the things that made their first album so great are still present but the songs are more fully formed and there's a restraint that makes the noisier moments much more effective when they do inevitably come. There's less experimenting and more directness, lots of distorted guitars and it's a quite wonderful combination. The cherry on top is singer James Graham's dark, ominous lyrics, which are slightly easier to decipher now, although still delivered with his familiar Glaswegian brogue. The subject matter is equally familiar, with tales of claustrophobic relationships and family dysfunction, inevitably with an unsettling undertone. Forget The Night Ahead is a more complex and assured album than its predecessor, and while it isn't the easiest record to get into some perseverance will reveal that it's easily one of the year's best.