The Twilight Sad
Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Release Date: Apr 3, 2007
Genre(s): Indie, Rock
Record label: Fat Cat
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Album Review: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters by The Twilight Sad
Excellent, Based on 2 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
The Twilight Sad are one of the more conventional-sounding bands on Fat Cat -- that is, if cathartic, widescreen rock augmented by accordions and melodies rooted in Scottish folk can be called conventional. Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters expands on the searing, earnest sound of the band's self-titled EP; indeed, several of the Twilight Sad's best songs are also highlights here. "That Summer, at Home I Became the Invisible Boy" just might be the band's definitive song: guitars shimmer and build up into poetic squalls; James Graham's appealingly thick Scottish burr imbues lyrics like "Kids are on fire in the bedroom" with tenderness; Mark Devine's powerful but nuanced drumming cuts a swath through the melody but doesn't overpower it; and accordions add an unexpected, homespun warmth.
Opinion: Very Good
Some joker at CDDB labeled Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters as children's music. It's a laugh, obviously, placing this shivering monument to adolescent angst next to Raffi. Still it's only a couple of years off. The title's fourteen going on fifteen falls just a bit to the right of childhood, a time when a kid's body is close to full-grown but his (or her) mind oscillates madly between adulthood and childish breakdown.