While their previous albums to date have each marked vast stylistic progressions and shifts in sound – from their post-rock / noise roots to the blistering guitar force of ‘Forger The Night Ahead’ to the chillingly dark, synth-based ‘No-One Will Ever Know’, the fourth album from Kilsyth’s finest is pitched as the culmination of their previous explorations. This is largely true, although if anything, ‘Nobody Wants to Be Here’ more closely represents an amalgam of the last two albums, melding cold synths to washes of raging guitar. Moreover, it does still represent an evolution of sorts: it’s simultaneously as bleak as anything they’re ever done, while equally their most commercial and accessible work to date.
Opener ‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’ begins with a chiming guitar that’s almost a carbon copy of Interpol’s ‘Untitled’ before the drums kick in and James Graham croons ‘You’re not coming back... you’re not coming back from this’. It’s half menacing, half resigned and summarises the tone his delivery takes across the album. And then the synths enter the mix: simultaneously glacial new wave and crisp 80s pop – something of a recurring theme and something I’ll come back to shortly – before, ultimately, the tidal wave of guitar powers in.
Drowning in a sea of reverb, James’ vocals are clear and more focused on melody than ever before – soaring, at times almost tremulous and floating, disembodied in the layers of cavernous echo.
‘It Was Never the Same’ sounds more like ‘Songs of Faith and Devotion’ era Depeche Mode than anything else: it’s epic and soulful. But then, it also incorporates elements of ‘Disintegration’ era Cure, and, being The Twilight Sad, a dense wall of guitar that smoulders in the background toward the end. It’s overtly anthemic, but the big racket at the end is a classic piece of self-sabotaging and as such, it’s quintessentially Twilight Sad. Similarly, ‘Pills I Swallow’ is reminiscent of the Psychedelic Furs circa 1982 and demonstrates their knack for canny pop tunes that lurk on the bleak side.
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‘In Nowheres’ is quite simply a beast of a song: the sound is vast, the immense guitars mesh with the expansive synths that sweep broad sonic strokes across the skyline, the vocals completely at sea and half-submerged in layers of echo. It’s as dark a pop song as you’ll hear all year.
The electro-industrial grind of the title track gives way to a shoegaze wash of sound blended with pleeping 80s synths and propelled by some thunderous percussion. It’s a well-placed reminder of the band’s more experimental and noisy side, as previously demonstrated in the haunting rumble of ‘Scissors’ on ‘Forget the Night Ahead’ and their formative live performances.
As with its predecessors, it’s an album that doesn’t immediately take, because it’s so different from what came before. It’s not disappointing by any stretch – far from it, in fact – but doesn’t sit comfortably. This is, of course, the band’s strength: they never pander to popular demand, but release the music they feel – and it’s clear that they’re feeling this. Brimming with the emotional intensity that is truly the defining feature of The Twilight Sad ‘Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave’ may have a poppy accessible side, but is as gloriously bleak and inclement as any of their previous albums. In other words, it’s classic Twilight Sad.
The Twilight Sad Online
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