Archive for February, 2012


Aloha Tigers

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
February 29, 2012

Album of the Week: Aloha Tigers – Aloha Tigers

Presenting the debut album by Illinois duo Aloha Tigers. On a Scottish DIY tape label.

Obviously.

See, this neat little release marks the first activity by Kirkcudbright Tape Club, a micro concern by former ‘Have Fun At Dinner’ blogger and current Song, by Toad associate Ian Greenhill.

And it’s a perfect fit. Greenhill’s old site had an unhealthy obsession with the dreamier side of indie pop, especially if it happened to be Swedish.

Now, we’re not aware of any Scandanavian blood flitting round Aloha Tigers’ veins but if you close your eyes you might just find yourself imagining underrated lo-fi troupe the Radio Dept streaming laid back, melodic loveliness into your eyes.

We’ll hear more about how this bizarre collaboration came about below, but let savour some bite size chunks from Aloha Tigers.

Your Ghost would make the Shins proud, all the more pertinent in the year that they’ve returned with a rather ropey single. The Kind of Girl You Like might feel like lightweight pop fluff but within the song lurk lyrics and vivid descriptions of their somewhat negative effects.

Arguably best of all is Darkest Dreams, which aptly takes you to a place where you could curl up, close your eyes and forget about that big bad world out there before poking you awake with a sharp reminder that feral kids are stripping your car of its useful parts outside.

And the band name? You’re thinking of tigers cubs in Hawaiian shirts aren’t you? Hang on to that imagine, it’s worth savouring… Cute but likely to turn on you once you realise what they’re all about.

I grabbed a word with the band this week.

Care to introduce yourselves?

Michael Wharfield: We started Aloha Tigers in October of 2009 as a home recording project. We basically met on accident. At first, each of us was kind of intimidated by the other, but that ended abruptly after we actually got to talking and realized that we had the same musical goals and interests. And that we share a number of similar neuroses. And it went from there.
Nick Aister: Mike built our studio from the ground up, makes all our beats, does all the production, and all the mixing, and mastering. I write and perform the songs. It’s kind of a DJ Jazzy Jeff/Fresh
Prince, “He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper”-type thing, except I do not believe that either of them was suffering from massive depression or crippling anxiety when they were making their albums. Although I don’t know that for certain.
Mike: We’ve both been making music since we were kids and intend to keep doing it until we are old and feeble.
Nick: I am already somewhat feeble.
Mike: And old.
Nick: And old. I am old.

Aloha Tigers. Hello Kitty with sharper teeth in Hawaiian shirts. Discuss.

Nick: I am personally a huge fan of that description. We genuinely try to make upbeat, catchy pop songs, but the darkness always finds a way in. I’ve always been really into people like Randy Newman and Jarvis Cocker, who write absolutely amazing tunes with scathing lyrics, and that’s kind of what I aspire too. And I like kitties, a lot.
Mike: I stole a Hawaiian shirt from my dad once and tried to make Nick wear it, but he wouldn’t.
Nick: It looked really terrible on me. I only look good in certain types of shirts.
Mike: You should always keep an eye out for a shirt you like.

What were the key inspirations behind the album?

Nick: The world is clearly falling to pieces all around us and we wanted to make an album that sort of reflects how we feel about that.
Mike: Between impending environmental collapse, peak oil, corporate-sponsored war, the global rise of the neo-feudalist state and the coming of the singularity, we feel its pretty obvious that humankind is on its last legs, so we convened and decided that now is the time to make art.
Nick: We locked ourselves in a smoky room for a year and basically taught ourselves how to make an album as a means of distracting ourselves from our encroaching destruction. It was fun.

What drew you to a super low key DIY Scottish label?
Mike: Primarily, Ian Greenhill. He started Kirkcudbright Tape-Club as a genuine labor of love and he”s been in our corner from the very beginning. It’s a good fit because we’re kind of ornery and independent-minded, and Ian is too. He’s allowed us maintain control of our artistic vision, if that doesn’t sound too pretentious, and he’s repeatedly worn himself ragged sticking his neck out there and promoting the shit out of us. When you have the opportunity to work with someone like Ian, you jump at it, you know?
Nick: Also, we’re from a relatively small town in the middle of America, so signing with a label out of Scotland is terribly exotic. Although I believe Ian may have had a minor objection to being referred to as “super low key”. We all consider ourselves to be rather high key. That’s a thing, right? Sure it is. Print that.

Tags:
Comment

The Narrow State

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
February 22, 2012

Album of the Week: Rumour Cubes – The Narrow State

The Tidal Wave of Indifference bloody loves post rock.

Hopefully that was obvious with our frequent Mogwai-related drooling and our championing of pretty much everything that comes with guitars set to ‘epic’ and vocals set to ‘none’.

The arrival of the debut album by London-based instrumentalist Rumour Cubes in our inbox was always likely to receive favourable treatment then, but thankfully this is no mere run-of-the-mill jaunt.

Yes, we swoon over its glacial guitars, its unhurried build up and its massive, massive loud guitars, but it’s the use of the violin that adds that little bit extra to proceedings.

It’s not exactly a new trick for a post rock band, but Rumour Cubes bring out the best of the instrument once best known for being your weapon of choice when deliberating whether to beat Nigel Kennedy to death or not.

In amongst the thunderous guitars and portentous pontificating on The Gove Curve, the violins (and viola) are lacerating, rhythmic, and deeply unsettling. On the more lament-like At Sea, they’re heartfelt and more likely to have you staring at the bottom of a glass wondering why your beloved left you and even took the bloody cat.

At six tracks, The Narrow State is perhaps a little slight as nothing here, unlike, for example, much of the work of Mono, will have you checking your watch. But there’s plenty going on and the frequent time changes (see halfway through Rain On Titan) keep things interesting.

Triptych is a full-on blast of rock and roll and sounds like it would best appreciated live with everything, bowed or otherwise, getting the crap kicked out of it, until things break down rather beautifully. Needless to say, it then ramps up once again, conveying that sense of euphoria that makers of this kind music must all strive for.

But very few truly achieve it.

Naturally, we had a wee yarn with the band.

Are there any particular themes running through the record?

Adam Stark (guitar/electronics): One particular theme that has come out is the marketisation of education. This wasn’t particularly deliberate but there are strong political impulses in the band and so it happened naturally. Certainly, we believe that education should be a) free to all and b) free-thinking, i.e., it should not merely be the servant of a market economy, churning out ready-to-go employees – rather it should seek to empower people to challenge the society they are living in, giving each generation the opportunity to remake it as their own. These are some of the themes behind the opening two tracks, “The University is a Factory” and “The Gove Curve”. The poem that appears on The Gove Curve was written by poet Steve Willey, a good friend of the band.

Terry Murphy (viola): In a way all the songs bear the influence of the state and mood of the country at the time we made the album. I think the title ‘The Narrow State’ reflects both how we all feel about the political and governmental climate at the moment, and the mood of the songs bears that out, be it as a reflection of gloom and depression – or oppression even – or as a rallying cry of intent and hope in railing against that. Lauren Mortimer, who did the magnificent drawings for our album, really symbolised visually the marketisation of education theme, too.

How was the recording process?

AS: Brilliant! And long! We recorded the album at Café Music Studios in east London, with Mark Sutherland (producer) and Cherif Hashizume  (engineer). They injected a new life into the band and really made sure we got the best out of ourselves. We are also a picky bunch and so it took a lot of tweaking and revisiting things until we were able to sit down, listen to it and say “ok, it’s done, time to stop”. The record took nine months to make explicitly with some parts recorded more than 18 months ago. We are pleased with it though.

TM: We had to stop because we’d eaten all the supplies of ton-weight syrupy waffles from the shop next door. And by ‘we’ I mean Adam. Mark and Cherif really welcomed us into their studio and it became our second home – I’d charge Omar (Rahwangi – drums) rent if I were them! The amount of junk food required was heavy going though – that was definitely our rock and roll excess.

Hannah Morgan (violin): I had an absolutely amazing time at Café Music Studios. It’s a wonderful place that we pretty much entirely took over while we were there – we’d have one member downstairs recording, others assembling string lines upstairs, while the rest were making coffee, ordering Chinese, doing band admin on laptops… And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the jamming sessions, cover versions, filming, podcasting, etc that was going on as well. I’d live my life like that if I could.

What prompted the use of strings in your sound?

AS: I think when we formed the band, we wanted to go for a more diverse line up. A number of other musicians tried out for the band, including a cellist and a flautist. We tried our best to find a contra-bassoon player, but to no avail.

TM: One of the Sky Sports News presenters plays the bassoon – I used to play in the Merseyside Youth Orchestra with him. We could drop him a line. I wasn’t in the band when the line-up was decided, but I assume the decision to have a violin was due to not being able to find two violas (only joking, Hannah!)

HM: Actually I seem to recall it being me who suggested a viola player! We wanted something to complement and contrast the violin, and toyed with a few different instrumental ideas but the viola was by far the best choice – it’s a more mellow and fuller sound than the violin, but still has a similar range, whereas a cello would have been an octave lower.

Any plans to tour? Scotland perhaps?

AS: We do plan to tour later this year, yes. No specifics as yet, but we’d love to come up to Scotland – anyone wanna put us up?!

TM: I went to a wedding at a place called Crear about 20 miles from
Lochgilphead on the west coast of Scotland in the summer (I mean I went there in the summer. I assume it’s on the west coast of Scotland all year round, rather than being migratory). It runs residential courses for musicians I think. It’s in the middle of nowhere, so chances are we’d be playing to a field of sheep, but it would be an awesome setting!

HM: Touring is something we absolutely, desperately want to do. We just need to find time to do it! Co-ordinating seven people is difficult at the best of times. But we’ll definitely get there soon.

The Narrow State is available on Monday on Bandcamp.

Rumour Cubes – Triptych (live) from Rumour Cubes on Vimeo.

Tags:
Comment

Dead Wolf Situation

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — 2 Comments
February 15, 2012

Album of the Week: Hysterical Injury – Dead Wolf Situation

Death From Above 1979 and Blood Red Shoes. Right, now we’ve got the ubiquitous ‘sounds like’ reference out the way, we can get on with reviewing this rather splendid record by Wales’ Hysterical Injury.

Really though, they can expect nothing less – a boy/girl duo combining drums with a stringed instrument equals an instant Blood Red reference. Add that the instrument in question is a bass, then your DFA link is sealed too.

Thankfully, Dead Wolf Situation can stand on its own four feet. Absolutely as ferocious as you’d expect, it goes immediately for the jugular with Halo Alkanes, swiftly followed by Icebreak and Cycle One, combining vulgar power with a canny sense of melody. In fact, we’d argue that this is as strong an opening blast as on any album this year. Annie Gardiner howling “Everybody knows its rattling his cage” on Cycle One simply won’t leave your mind for weeks.

And sure, the bass has its limitations as a non-rhythmic instrument, but you wouldn’t guess that by listening to this album. Six string chords are simply not missed and it’s great to see a band doing something beyond yer standard fare. While the above comparisons are valid, they’re far noisier than Blood Red Shoes and a little less hairy (and considerably prettier) than DFA 1979.

Annie’s brother Tom is the man behind the kit, adding propulsion to the relentless racket. It can be slowed down a touch when required with Vex and showing restraint, and there’s lyrical depth on display with the scything Skyline Interface dealing with that whole unpleasant Meredith Kercher/Amanda Knox business.

Tipped by 6 Music for big things this year, Hysterical Injury are probably way too awkward for the mainstream, but Dead Wolf Situation is quite an introduction.

We spoke to Annie last week.

How does it feel like be a ‘tip’ for this year?

It is very very nice to hear that people like our music and so being a ‘tip’ is an honour.

What on earth is a ‘dead wolf situation’?

Dead Wolf Situation can be a kind of fairy tale metaphor to have slewn your fears! It was a happy accident we had a few choice words written down and assembled them until it sounded nice, and luckily the album has a lot of content about fear so it fitted.

Tell us about what’s influenced the album.

For a long time I’ve wanted to make an album that had the kind of psycho-ness that Joy Division got in Unknown Pleasures. I dont think we or this album sounds like it at all but that album has been a big influence on me to follow my curiosities about what sound and lyrics I would want to put on a record. I am also a huge David Lynch fan and have always been intrigued by his unfolding of seemingly mundane situations to find the abstraction. I wanted to make something that was something too… you know took you somewhere, that had energy in it… like when I first discovered Lightning Bolt I was just blown up by their energy. It is otherworldy, its almost a physical being, you are really aware of the physical change in energy when they play – you know air pressure turning into electrical currents, turning into kenetic responses… It made me smile and I wanted to do that too… and a huge urge to do what we like despite the world we live in….keeping rebellion alive and all.

Can we expect to see you in Scotland any time soon?

I would love to come to Scotland. My family are Scottish, although Tom and I were born and bred in beautiful Wales, our roots are in the North for sure. There is talk that we shall make it this year and I cant wait !!

Tags: , ,
Comment

Bandcrush: Hiva Oa

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
February 12, 2012

Typical. When Rob St John, whose superb Weald album crashed into the Tidal Wave of Indifference’s 2011 Christmas album countdown at number 12 has an Edinburgh gig, it stands to reason that we’re hundreds of miles away at a wedding that night.

The gig’s been put together at the cavernous Banshee Labyrinth by local blogger Pendulum Man, and the pill of missing out would be sugared slightly if the support bill was so-s0. But naturally, it’s quality.

Cheer are in there, and so are Edinburgh-based three piece Hiva Oa. We knew the name, so what better time to check out the music?

Well, they’re rather good. Falling somewhere across dream pop, drone and shoegaze, new single Badger perfectly exemplifies what they’re all about.

Cello-led, with wispy vocals and crashing drums towards the end they’ll be the perfect compliment for St John’s doomy folk in the depths of the Labyrinth on a chilly winter’s night.

It’s February 18 and tickets – which come with a digital EP featuring all three acts – are available HERE. We say get yourself along! We caught up with Stephen from the band this week.

So who the hell are you?

A Belgian, Italian and an Irishman, who enjoy making noise together. Most of the time it makes sense. Well, to us anyway. We also have trouble counting to ten.

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Worth investing your time in (and hard earned cash of course).

Hiva Oa – what’s in a name?

Our name? A direct result of eating Jacques Brel for breakfast for a number of years. Importance of choosing a band name? Anybody who has ever played in a band knows the difficulties in trying to decide one. To overcome this, we started with the name and then formed the band around it. There is then the added challenge of opinions being formed through hearing the name of a band alone, where an instant disliking can be formed. Example:

-‘Have you heard the new track by The Flarey Underpants?’ –

‘No, but I’m sure they suck!’

I’m sure you haven’t done this for us already?

We were mostly interested in whether you were named after the Polynesian island. Never mind. How did you guys come together as a band?

Stephen (guitar, vocals) and Christian (cello) played in a band together. Hiva Oa started, in essence as a side project of that which slowly started growing arms and legs as the other band never really took off. They were then joined by Marco (bass), which has formed that heart of the band ever since.

Bloggers putting on gigs – a disastrous combination, surely?

This of course depends on the blogger. Sometimes it can be refreshing to work with independent promoters who only put on a handful of shows a year. As an artist you feel that there is a greater enthusiasm with everybody involved in the show itself, which should filter down into your performance.

It can be the case that other big-wig promoters expect you to do most of the work for the show, and while artists should not be sitting back with their feet up, there is certainly a weighted responsibility on the promoters to generate buzz for the show. This can be difficult with a relatively new band like ourselves, which is why we may have to continue to rely on independent promoters to take risks.

We have been subject, especially as an audience far too frequently, to promoters inherent on pumping out 3/4 act bills of the same genre. It is something we don’t really understand as both artists and gig goers. Tell me, when you truly enjoy listening to music (in whatever form that may be), is it listening to the same type of songs over and over for a two hour period, and if so, how often do you drift in and out of conscientiousness? We certainly prefer a challenge when making the effort to see a live show, and at the same time expect to be challenged. Saying that, obviously this is not an excuse to produce shit music and call it challenging.

It could be argued that there is a tendency for a certain amount of short-sightedness when promoters put on shows seen throughout the Edinburgh calendar. Maybe what this town needs are more risk takers. Certainly, it is felt by many that it needs something.

Were you familiar with Rob St John before the gig was put together?

Who the fuck is Rob St John?

Can we expect any more shows in the near future?

At the moment there is nothing on the cards. Nevertheless, with the imminent release of our debut single and with an album to follow shortly, we are expecting 2012 to be busy indeed. However, with the endless destruction of small venues in Edinburgh to nurture emerging bands, we have decided, through lengthy negotiations, to secure commercial sponsorship and will soon be appearing in a selection of Greggs throughout the city on a weekly basic. Keep an eye on whatever social media website is popular this week to keep abreast of forthcoming performances.

Hiva Oa – “Badger” from C Lyons on Vimeo.

Tags: , ,
Comment

Bandcrush: People Places Maps

Filed under: Interviews — Leave a comment
February 10, 2012

We’ve already mildly berated the excellent Happy Particles over their baffling decision to release their debut album on Christmas day, but we never mentioned People Places Maps who put theirs out a mere week before.

Perhaps not as bad in the timing stakes, they had their launch party that same week. Right in the middle of Christmas party season.

Madness? Seemingly not. While the Tidal Wave of Indifference was sulking in the corner, desperately trying to avoid the forced frivolity of our day job’s festive bash, Sneaky Pete’s was rammed with fans of the Dunfermline band.

And rightfully so. The Distance Tricked Us is a splendid album, combining overt Frabbit-esque Scottishness with US rock sensibilities. Recorded in Strathaven, it was mixed in LA by Ruben Cohen who’s worked with someone called Bruno Mars (us neither).

It’s twelve tracks with bite and follows a number of successful shows. This is band with ambition and we say don’t bet against them.

We spoke to singer Ryan McGlone and bassist Steven Ferguson, a.k.a. “Ferg” a short while ago.

So who the hell are you?

Ryan: We are People, Places, Maps. Five Humans from Dunfermline and one from Edinburgh. We like to combine the noise we each make as individuals into a collective sound, I believe that makes us a “band”. We enjoy this collective noise and hope others do too!

Describe your sound in ten words or less!

Ferg: Loud, Quiet, Acoustic, Electric, Marshall, Harlem, Nandos, Fife, No Bad? That’s ten!

Wouldn’t you say that an album launch so close to Christmas is an act of lunacy?

Ryan: Yeah, we did have reservations about doing it then but it was that or after Christmas and we just wanted the record out. The launch was sold out and we had a great night, sold a lot of CDs, and made ourselves some money that will go towards the next CD. Great, great, good, good times.

What were your key influences through the making of the record?:

Ryan: The place we record, Old Mill Studios in Strathaven is an influence in itself really, its got a really nice atmosphere and the owner Marshall is one of the best people you could ever meet. Musically as a band we listen to loads of different stuff but tend to all like Brand New, Frightened Rabbit, Arcade Fire, Idlewild, Jimmy Eat World, Blink 182, We Were Promised Jetpacks, thats to name a few. We got introduced to the excellent There Will Be Fireworks through the Studio as well and personally their album has become one of my absolute favourites.

Have you plans to tour the record a little wider?:

Ryan: We really want to do as many gigs in different places as possible, but really right now its about getting as many people hearing us as possible and building a buzz so that the demand for us is their before we go farther afield. Right now we are concentrating on Glasgow, Edinburgh, and our hometown of Dunfermline. When its going to be worthwhile we will think about places like Aberdeen, London, Manchester etc.

What are your resolutions for 2012 (we *cough* may have *cough* asked these questions some time ago)?

Ryan: To eat less cheese next christmas, I gained two stones worth of Applewood alone!

Ferg: To hate less people.

You have a world map in front of you – point to your favourite places
please. And where are you favourite people from?:

Ryan: Favourite places are New York, Lake Tahoe, Rome, Amsterdam, Liverpool, and Leeds Festival. Favourite people live in Liverpool, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, and Glasgow.

Ferg: Farry’s Pizza Hoose for his infamous Special Burger and sauce! My bed and girlfriend… preferably together. I hate everywhere else in the world.

Tags: ,
Comment

Plumb

Filed under: Albums — Leave a comment
February 7, 2012

Album of the Week: Field Music – Plumb

When eyes unexpectedly turned to the North East of England in the middle of the last decade looking for the next big thing, no one really expected Field Music to be the ones with staying power.

But here we are in 2012 with the Brewis brothers about to release their excellent fourth album while the Futureheads and Maximo Park have largely drifted out of the public’s consciousness.

Maybe it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise? Field Music were always alchemists – full of awkward, staccato rhythms which should take down the catchiness level of any song, but somehow still keeping their songs in the drawer clearly marked ‘pop’ – but certainly not throwaway popsters.

This formula hit its peak on 2007′s wonderful Tones of Town and while it’s follow-up Measure overextended itself at 22 tracks, it still oozed quality, thicker than any Geordie accent.

So in theory, 15 tracks over barely half an hour on Plumb should see Field Music stripping things back a bit?

Nuh-uh.

Short and sharp some of the songs may be (three fall short of the minute mark), but the band have woven in complex time changes all over the shop and some songs like opener Start the Day Right manage still be multi-part Bohemian Rhapsody/Paranoid Android-esque epics while barely scraping past two minutes.

And the tracks come at you so thick and fast it can be difficult to differentiate between one of those time changes and a new piece kicking off altogether.

The Brewis voice has alway been a strength and the brothers are in fine voice once again with vocals that must surely now be described as ‘unmistakable’. First single (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing certainly needed no introduction on the first of its many radio plays.

In amongst all the musical intricacy is woven a gorgeous sense of melody (Choosing Sides and Guillotine particularly standing out) and some superb guitar sounds, like on Who’ll Pay the Bills.

To date Field Music have been seen as little more than well respected cult heroes who don’t sell as many records as they should. Here’s hoping that Plumb changes all that.

We were delighted to catch a word with David Brewis last week.

How has your approach to writing and recording differed since Measure?

As ever, we’re just trying to get better at what we do. There was definitely a feeling this time round that we should embrace some different approaches to structure, especially given that a lot of the songs on Measure were quite conventional in that respect. In terms of recording, we’ve had to get used to working in a new space, as we moved to a new studio just before we started recording. That’s allowed us to be a bit less inhibited with regard to instrumentation.

What are the key themes we can hear on Plumb?

Musically, there’s an incredibly wide range on the record. I think the more-fragmented structures have led to a few sections which really draw on musicals and film; maybe using the music as narrative in a way we haven’t done in the past. But on the other hand, there are plenty of songs where that wouldn’t be apparent at all!

Lyrically, quite a few of Peter’s songs deal with nostalgia and how memories impinge on the here and now. In my songs, there’s quite a lot of existential frustration! How do you communicate with people without diluting your ideas to make them more easily understood? Can you hold onto your ideals as you get older? Isn’t there something more useful to do with your time than making music? The usual.

Looking forward to getting out on the road again?

I am actually. I think the band is sounding really good and I think some of the songs will be quite surprising for people to see and hear live. I wouldn’t want to play as much as we did after Measure – I don’t have the mental stamina to play the same songs night after night that often and still enjoy it. It’s great to go out and play but, for me, that has to be balanced out by quiet, solitary time when I can let some new ideas percolate.

You can catch Field Music on the following dates:

Feb 10, Newcastle, The Cluny (SOLD OUT)
Feb 12, Newcaslte The Cluny (Extra date just added)
Feb 18, Glasgow Stereo
Feb 19, Manchester Deaf Institute (SOLD OUT)
Feb 20, Leeds Brudenell Social Club
Feb 22, Nottingham, Bodega
Feb 23, Bristol The Fleece
Feb 24, Kings College London

Some of the camerawork on this unofficial video is on the shaky side, but it certainly captures the essence of (I Keep Thinking About) A New Thing.

Tags:
Comment

No One Can Ever Know

Filed under: Albums, Interviews — Leave a comment
February 1, 2012

Album of the Week: The Twilight Sad – No One Can Ever Know

Much has been made of the Twilight Sad’s ‘change of direction’. You know the one – that famous wall of noise now morphed into dark, swirling synths.

True, it sounds strange at first. There was a definite transition between debut Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters and 2009′s Forget the Night Ahead, but this is something else entirely.

Maybe that’s why the band and their chose to trail the album so heavily in advance. Three of its nine tracks have been available for advance download, two for free, so music fans that were already into the band have had plenty of time to readjust. Those who weren’t have a clean slate of course, but seeing them live may make them wonder just what’s going on.

If reports are to believed the band have lost absolutely none of their power – and let’s face it, volume – live, even on the less guitar-y new songs. Impressive, as it’s hard to see some of these songs turning into true foundation shakers.

That’s not to say they’re lacking in other qualities, of course. Present and correct is James Graham’s anguished howl, the OTHER defining trait of the Twilight Sad. It blends magnificently with the creaking door synths on opener Alphabet.

That unsettling ’70s horror soundtrack feel runs through the album and on Dead City it kicks on into a cracking chorus. Sick’s difficult lyrics announce a different tact – slow and breathless – and it’s maybe an odd choice for a single, but hey isn’t The Room one of the ‘Sad’s best-loved songs?

The closing doubler – Another Bed and Kill It In The Morning – you’ll already be familiar with and if you’ve any sense, utterly love.

The Twilight Sad have progressed their sound certainly, but have lost none of their intensity. No One Can Ever Know is an album to be proud of and one you’ll keep coming back to. Trust us.

We spoke to James from the band last week.

It feels like a breakneck few years for the band. Fancy slowing down any time soon?

Ha! I suppose we’ve been kind of busy, although we’d have liked to have been even busier. We’re a working band and playing live is what we love to do, so we’re not planning on slowing down anytime soon. 2012 looks like its going to be a really full on busy year for us, which is great. The only way we’ll be slowing down is if we split up or end up killing each other over the next year.

Much has been made of your apparent change in sound – how do YOU think you’ve changed?

Personally, I don’t see it as that big of a change. We’ve just done what comes naturally. I’m not the same person I was when I wrote the first or second album. I mean, I’m still the same person – I haven’t had an identity crisis or anything – I’ve just got older. I still write in the same way I’ve always written, the songs are still about where I’m from and things that have happened to me/my friends/my family but I think musically we always want to try new things whilst staying honest and true to ourselves. We never wanted to make the same sounding record on any release so we’ve just done things that have interested us musically and tried to move the band forward in a direction that keeps us interested and excited. I mean, I don’t listen to any of our old albums, so people that have recently or occasionally over the past few years, might think it’s a big change. But to me we’re the same band and hopefully that comes through on this new record in a new and exciting way.

Is there a particular influence that’s now coming to the fore?

No one in particular, it was more something that happened at the song writing stage. The songs just took on a sparse/bleak approach, which actually helped to add certain new elements to the sound of the songs, if that makes any sense. Andy was listening to stuff along the lines of Siouxsie and the Banshees, Can, PiL, Fad Gadget, Cabaret Voltaire, Wire, Bauhaus, Magazine, D.A.F. etc. Which probably helped influence the new songs. As far as the vocal melodies and lyrics go, I just did what came naturally when I was listening to and writing along to the music that Andy gave me. That’s the thing with this band, we just do what comes naturally and we’re not trying to be anything we’re not.

Can we expect to see you out on the road again soon?

Yeah, we’re touring the UK at the start of February, beginning a four-week North American tour at the end of February which ends at SXSW. Then I think we’re off to mainland Europe in April/May, then it will be festival season. Then in the second half of the year we’ll be releasing something else with the new album so hopefully we’ll be touring the world again. We’re really hoping this new album will take us to countries and cities we’ve never been before. Life on the road is what we’re hoping for.

Those tours dates as follows:

Feb 9 Glasgow Grand Ole Opry
Feb 10 Manchester Ruby Lounge
Feb 11 Sheffield Queens Social Club
Feb 12 Birmingham Hare and Hounds
Feb 13 Bristol Fleece
Feb 14 London Cargo
Feb 15 Nottingham Stealth
Feb 16 Leeds Brudenell Social Club

Tags:
Comment
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 26 other followers