The Twilight Sad

With Haiver and Darren Wasteland

PJ Molloy’s, Dunfermline, 8 December

Scotland has always punched above its weight when measured against musical output across the years. From The Sensational Alex Harvey Band via The Bay City Rollers, Simple Minds, Wet, Wet Wet and Biffy Clyro through to The Cocteau Twins, Travis, Mogwai and Primal Scream there’s always been a tinge of tartan somewhere in the musical landscape.

Dive under the surface of Scotland’s nightlife and you’ll also find bands like, The Twilight Sad, who are on the edge of becoming household names, or at least should be in the eyes and ears of those who follow them.

After a short hiatus, James Alexander Graham and Andy MacFarlane from the band are performing a stripped back set in a small number of venues and, on this particular night, I travelled through to Dunfermline and PJ Molloy’s to see and hear what may be coming down the tracks in the months to follow.

The set list itself was peppered by well kent tracks from the band interspersed with some new material, Designed to Lose and Chest Wound to the Chest, that sounded equally beguiling.

With just an electric or acoustic guitar played by Andy as backing, it was left to James to front the show. To introduce the songs. To tell us where they’ve been. Why they’re doing these intimate shows. What it means to him personally to be on stage again.

Of all the gigs I’ve ever been to, long before this #AtoZMusicalTour was even thought about, I haven’t witnessed a singer and band leader perform with such a level of intensity that you feared they might combust on stage. James put his heart, his soul and just about everything else into every single song played.

Ahead of each, it was as if he had to psyche himself up for what was to follow, while at the end of each song it seemed as if another demon had been exorcised from his body.

In such a small intimate setting as offered in PJ Molloy’s, everyone there could feel the apprehension that was being played out on stage. Everyone would gladly have wrapped an arm around James to tell him how much they appreciated his performance and how comforting it was to see him in such fine musical form.

While this was not a one man show by any stretch of the imagination with Andy effortlessly gliding through all the songs despite a few technical hitches along the way, everyone I’m sure would have left the venue, back into the cold Dunfermline night, with an abiding memory of a man who gave his all for us to enjoy.

If this is a prelude to a band get together and tour, then book your tickets early. You won’t be disappointed.

Support Act Darren Wasteland

While advertised as a stripped back session for Twilight Sad, Darren seemed to treat it as an opportunity to audition for fans of the main band and, in doing so, will no doubt have a few of them looking out for the next time he’s playing in a venue or venues they can easily see him play.

One man, one guitar and a laptop to provide the overlayed backing. Some of the tracks played were wordy and delivered in a favoured shouty fashion. Others though were more composed and elegantly performed. Whie diverse, both styles worked very well within the short time allocated to him.  Definitely one to be filed away for another day, another gig.

Support Act 2 Haiver

There is a longstanding friendship between Twilight Sad and Haiver’s front man Billy Kennedy through the connections forged with Frightened Rabbit and there is a genuine show of gratitude that Haiver are sharing a night with James and Andy.

While the stage was uncomfortably small for all of them to squeeze onto their stools and play, there was little denying the solid foundations they have to move on from the recent past. The acoustic set was lit up with songs that discussed real life issues, some dark and others with a more uplifting feel. By his own admissions, his inter song patter needs to be worked on, but the songs on show were an ample substitute for any comedy, however black.