Reviews

The Twilight Sad – IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE

On their sixth LP, the Scottish veterans confront loss head-on with raw, impassioned anthems.

There is nothing subtle about The Twilight Sad’s towering return, but how could it ever be? Written in response to a challenging period in vocalist/lyricist James Graham’s life, as he confronted loss head-on while becoming a father, the Scottish rockers express those conflicting emotions through some of their most commanding creations to date. Finding comfort in exploring the darker side of human nature is a recurring theme in their work, dating back to their debut studio album, 2007’s Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters. But this time, it truly feels like Graham had to lay it bare as if his life depended on it.

Achieving a level of consistency that is, frankly, unparalleled, the Twilight Sad enter their third decade together with plenty of momentum on their side. Even after a seven-year absence, they’re fortunate to have a support system that strongly believes in their artistry. Not only does their signing to the Rock Action record label, run by Scottish institution Mogwai, provide a more tuneful alternative to that band’s more austere work, but they’ve also found a longtime cheerleader in Robert Smith of the Cure. Smith, a staunch believer in the group who also contributes to three tracks, has shown great loyalty in inviting them on numerous sold-out tours for over a decade.

Mentioning Smith seems apt to denote this new cycle of the band’s arc, as it was during this time that the band had lined up a massive tour with the Cure in late 2023. And then, the little control that Graham had started to slip from his grasp. Losing his mother to frontotemporal dementia shortly after cancelling their tour due to his declining health, Graham had to reckon with his own struggles while parenting a young child. While Graham and guitarist/songwriter/secret weapon Andy MacFarlane had started working on the album in bits and pieces, the bulk of the album started to take shape as Graham, with Smith acting as mentor, found the strength to channel his grief into living, breathing songs.

It might be facile to attribute the highs of IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE to Graham’s backstory, but he and his bandmates tap into something special, earnest, and powerful. Graham, oftentimes oblique in his miserabilist imagery, is strikingly direct throughout most of the album. “Come back home, why are you leaving me?” he yearns in his heavy Scottish brogue on “GET AWAY FROM IT ALL,” mired in the dense, atmospheric drift they established as far back as 2009’s Forget the Night Ahead. On the chilling, piano-led “THE CEILING UNDERGROUND,” Graham, feeling numb, goes on a search for meaning as the song builds into a sustained crescendo.

While the Twilight Sad touch on many of their usual influences, they do evolve in subtle ways. “INHOSPITABLE/HOSPITAL,” the closest here to a Cure homage, adds delicate synth lines and shadings within a driving, muscular rhythm section. Graham’s vocals, an instrument in themselves, shift from calm to explosive, which might misconstrue him as sounding wounded when, in fact, it comes across as vital. He pleads in the highest of notes on “DESIGNED TO LOSE,” a bass-driven collision of screeching feedback and twinkling synths, reimagining the brooding goth-tinged influences of 2012’s No One Can Ever Know but with a crisper finish. Just like on “INHOSPITABLE/HOSPITAL,” the song’s atmospheric guitar interplay recalls post-punk pioneers The Chameleons.

By contrast, the dramatic synth rocker “WAITING FOR THE PHONE CALL” sounds positively life-affirming in every possible sense. Featuring Smith on guitar, though his contribution is so inconspicuous that it’s impossible to detect, Graham processes receiving devastating, life-changing news over a danceable groove that suggests his desperate attempt to move forward. It’s easy to forget that, even at their most unrelenting, the Twilight Sad have written bleakly beautiful songs that don’t rely on cheap thrills.

IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE is anthemic to its core, to such a degree that it practically oozes it, but it also carries more nuance than it lets on. As the band concludes with the nervy, menacing “TV PEOPLE STILL THROWING TVS AT PEOPLE,” Graham lays it straight: “Is it okay to feel this way?” Calling it too sincere, or even too trite, is fair. But it’s also fair to say that he’s earned his diaristic expression, with the track culminating in one of the band’s most hair-raising climaxes to date. Though it may be his story, Graham makes the point that loss hits everyone at some point—all while recognising that he can only share his. And as his chapter ends, another one opens for anyone seeking some comfort.

IT’S THE LONG GOODBYE is out now via Rock Action.