Unlike many bands which hail from their home country, one of the most unique aspects of The Twilight Sad is how defiantly lead singer James Graham’s Scottish brogue resonates in the songs, a welcome touch to what deceptively seems like a somewhat Americanized sound. Perhaps it’s also this charm that adds to the witty, stream-of-consciousness prose the band utilizes to surprising effect on their latest album, Forget the Night Ahead.

The Twilight Sad – I Became a Prostitute

Using the term “shoegaze” might roll the eyes of the reader– as well as earn me a good clobbering or two from the group– but maybe it’s adequate to simply imply that one might find himself gazing at something while listening to the band, if only in the mind’s eye: the lush and rolling highlands of Skye, the bustling cobblestone streets of downtown Glasgow, or maybe, more locally, just a beautiful piece of nature in one’s own backyard. But make no mistake, for TTS employs just as much of a penchant for a loud, thick, distorted brand of wall-of-sound thunder that drives epic-sounding tracks like “I Became a Prostitute.” If anything, the band never seems to lose its fervor for music alternately thoughtful, somber, and unique, constantly evoking emotion and still remaining true to music that, while familiar, is distinctive in its native sound.

Words by Jeff Nau