Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

The Twilight Sad | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 3, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Fat Cat
• ASIN: B000N3SSS0
• Also Available in: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,560 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When you see that you're all mine... with a knife in your chest, April 12, 2007

By 

Kevin Satterwhite (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (Audio CD)

Here they are, after hearing my cries for a great, new band, The Twilight Sad release one of the best albums of the past few years. From the start, the listener is draped within TTS's atmospheric sound and with it they promote a wondrous landscape. It's the perfect blend of Scottish folk, distortion and ambiance. All the post-modern, sonic guitars; slow, melodic drum beats; and piercing, droning sounds are blended perfectly with the soft vocals and acoustics. Imagine if you will the sonic, ambient sounds of a modern day, experimental band such as Explosions In The Sky but more traditionally structured with Scottish influences, such as how Big Country took the music of their era and conjured their sound. That is the picture you should envision when considering the sound of The Twilight Sad.

"Cold Days From The Birdhouse" serves as the ideal introduction for "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". Beginning with acoustic guitars, a repetitious piano note and soft vocals, it ends after a climax of loud distorted sounds and perfectly demonstrates to the listen exactly what to expect throughout the rest of the album. "That Summer, At Home I Had Became the Invisible Boy" is one of the best songs of this year. It's the true gem of this wonderful album. In the song, singer, James Grahams' narratives explain a tragic tale that the narrator caused. "These walls are filled with blame" Graham expresses on "Mapped By What Surrounded Them".

The overall mood of the album as you should tell is melancholy. How could it not be when you name your band `The Twilight Sad' and have song titles such as "And She Would Darken The Memory" and "Last Years Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard" on your debut album "Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters"? There are nine tracks on this album; the majority of which are over five minutes in length, none of them lackluster. There isn't a skippable track on here and none of them feature minutes of filler sounds or noises like most experimental bands will induce on the listener.

Without needing to get into too much more detail, this is my personal choice for album of the year at this point in early April. If for some reason another band comes along and knocks this from my top spot, I will more then welcome it. I would love to meet the artist(s) that can relinquish my obsession with this album.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, May 31, 2007

By 

Andrew Vice (Plano, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (Audio CD)

Yes, singer James Graham has a thick accent. Get over it. Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters is a lush, beautiful soundscape of pulsing, droning guitar haze layered with bright, rhythmic drumming, and poetic, heartfelt lyrics. Graham sings every word with import, convincing the listener that his words are truly his own, and not just the rambling bull of a man strapped for lyrics to put to his songs.

The songs are heavy. They are very, very heavy, but that in no way compromises their beauty. Despite the wall of sound that assaults the listener, the instruments are still apparent, the melody still perceivable, and the overall theme of the music is not lost. Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters is an album to listen to as you cruise the highway in the dead of night. Listen to this album when you have time to ponder, and time to appreciate the effort that these lads and lasses from Glasgow have put out in order to make a gorgeous record for all of us to wallow in.

Though the songs are primarily dark in lyric and in music, the album is compelling, and somehow, uplifting. Give the Twilight Sad a chance, and I doubt you'll be disappointed. Don't be turned off by Graham's accent like I was at first. Give him time, and I assure you his voice will grow on you, and you'll realize that these songs couldn't be sung by any other voice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Uneven but promising, August 8, 2007

By 

D - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (Audio CD)

After hearing the first two stunning tracks of this CD for the first time, I started thinking this album might be the Next Best Thing...and it's not. Unfortunately, a couple songs follow that lack melody and aren't that fantastic. At times these guys make beautiful noise, and at other times, well, they just make noise. There's lots of room for improvement, but it's a very impressive debut. And I love the guy's voice! (Yes, I laughed at the Groundskeeper Willie crack below, and there's an element of truth to that, but he can't help having an accent for crying out loud! And I happen to love it and think it makes them sound unique.)

At their best, these guys remind me a bit of the James album "Laid". And I wish they'd go just a bit more in that direction...slightly more melodic and less thrashy. I definitely look forward to hearing what these guys do next.