The Twilight Sad - "No One Can Ever Know"

Artist: The Twilight Sad
Album: No One Can Ever Know
Label: Fat Cat Records
Release Date: February 7, 2012
Review by: Sean Kayden

Scottish indie rockers The Twilight Sad demonstrate a complete overhaul to their wall of sound on their third opus, “No One Can Ever Know.” With added synthesizers, the under-the-radar outfit adds extra layers, darker tones, and an ominous vibe to their dense sonic borders. As a result, “No One Can Ever Know” is a taut, menacing, foreboding record that will surprise most supporters of the band. The Twilight Sad’s latest outing is something of an impenetrable mystery. The shift in artistic direction may have some raising questions, but at any rate, the secrecies behind the record only add to the supremacy of it. While the band has always received much praise for their work, the group’s recent effort may finally put them on the map as a true force to be reckoned with.

Frontman James Graham’s heavy accent sometimes makes his lyrics indiscernible, but often the unawareness only contributes to the ambiguity of the songs. The record launches off to a promising start to say the least. “Alphabet,” the opening track and best of the bunch, sets the mood right from the beginning. A simple, but haunting synth beat masked behind the gaunt lyrics gives you an indication how the rest of the record may play out. “Dead City,” a close runner-up for the best track, is an unequivocal distressing piece of music. The closing lyrics, taken straight from the album title, “No one can ever know,” establishes the theme of the record to be a secret that most may never be able to unravel. In essence, this is not your typical TTS album and proves the band is no one trick pony. Whatever Graham is feeling, he puts it on full blast with each and every track. The perceived tormented soul of a man is on display with an honest, moody, and cathartic reverberation that will continue to haunt you well after you stop playing the record.

“No One Can Ever Know” begins irrefutably strong. However, I think with the last two tracks it loses some of its glow. “Another Bed”, the weakest from the playlist, feels oddly off. Maybe it’s because the aforementioned song isn’t nearly as gloomy as the other tracks. Whatever the case may be, something about the arrangements didn’t do it for me. The closing song, “Kill It In The Morning” provides heavy synths, an aggressive blend of rock and electronics that have the record coming to a jarring finish. Despite the relatively disappointing conclusion, The Twilight Sad have crafted an intense, memorable, and evocative piece of work that’s a definite surprise in the way it sounds, but not a surprise in quality since this is a group that continues to produce powerful and original music with each sequential release.

Key Tracks: “Alphabet”, “Dead City”, “Sick”, “Don’t Move”
Grade: 8 out of 10

Published on February 11th, 2012 by Mountain Views News
http://mtnviewsnews.com/v06/htm/n06/p09.htm