Various Swell Sounds is a collaborative playlist series from Shana Hartzel of Swell Tone, Jon Chin of Cereal and Sounds, and myself. Instead of constantly exchanging tracks amongst each other, we have decided to work together to bring them to more ears. Every month, we will match a selection of our old and brand new favourites to a specific theme, as decided on a revolving basis month by month.

2018 Warped: the final Various Swell Sounds offering of the year, and perhaps of all time. Here, all constraints go out of the window, and instead we present a collection of songs from all styles, sounds and eras that have been with us this year.

If you enjoy 2018 Warped, be sure to check out the other instalments of Various Swell Sounds. You can find those we hosted here, and the others on Swell Tone and Cereal + Sounds.

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Tracklist:

1. Deserter – Siskiyou
2. Pill – Ought
3. There’s a GIrl In the Corner – The Twilight Sad
4. Kill What You Love – Scotdrakula
5. PS You Still Do This To Me – Kissing Fractures
6. Walls – Two White Cranes
7. Lifetime Warranty – Cyberbully Mom Club
8. The Great Big World – R.L. Kelly
9. Misery Loves Company – Gorgeous Bully
10. Blah Blah Blah – Girlpool
11. My Song – Spencer Radcliffe
12. Summer Lawns – Mike Pace & The Child Actors
13. Crossroads – Sally Fowler
14. Sweet Isolation – Nathan Reich
15. Home At Last – John Statz
16. Our Town – Chalk
17. Mole – The Mountain Goats
18. Easy It Goes – Eric & Magill
19. Slow Thickening – German Error Message
20. Cabin Lights – Lung Cycles
21. The Day is Past and Gone (Variations) – Sarah Louise
22. Holding – Grouper

November 2014 Mix from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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This idea made me think of the The Twilight Sad. The band have been labelled along a spectrum, from grumpy, dour Scots to a more extreme, probable-trauma-as-a-child sort of category. While it’s understandable that people will take what an artist presents as some clue as the nature of its creator (they have nothing else to go on, after all), to see albums or careers written off as miserable, aloof or frigid based on the artwork and some cherry-picked lyrics is not only unfair, but also missing the point quite spectacularly (FYI Lead James Graham has nice supportive parents). 

Nobody Wants to Be Here… is the The Twilight Sad’s fourth album. Their début, Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters, was a critically acclaimed masterpiece, but the others, all too often lumped in with the more saleable Frightened Rabbit and We Were Promised Jetpacks, were overlooked for the most part. Graham told The Skinny that the new record is an attempt “not to prove people wrong, but to prove people right,” and it is immensely pleasing to see that this does not mean conforming to a trend but working doubly hard at what TTS are best at.

‘There’s a Girl in the Corner’ opens on a familiarly unsettling vibe, the refrain “you’re not coming back, you’re not coming back from this” hinting at something awful. This indirect method of delivery continues across the album. To choose a few examples, ‘Last January’ is bitter and unrequited and creepy in a desperate way…

“I see you at night,
and I stare at you
You don’t care for me

Without the light,
I still glare at you,
look away from me”

…and ‘I Could Give You All That You Don’t Want’ mixes specific imagery with a dream-like fogginess…

“She said “Pray over there”
She sat and prayed over there
How dare you decide what’s right?
No, you won’t”

This continues throughout the album, until the final track, ‘Sometimes I Wished I Could Fall Asleep,’ a bleak love letter stripped back to the bare bones, just stark piano and Graham’s lyrics. The layers of metaphor are peeled back to produce what is the explicit song on the record, a simple, straight conclusion to what proves a complex piece of work.

The effect the indistinct writing is that of trying to view a disaster unfold through a keyhole, only opening the door once it is too late and the room is empty save for the hum in the air of residual violence or grief. Only Graham seems unable to fully accept what has happened out of sight and instead treads the thinnest, most ridiculous sliver of hope rather than lay down and unravel.

The moral of the album, looping right back around to Berninger and Ellis, is that dark music does not always make for miserable creators or listeners. I’m reminded of the line in Withered Hand’s ‘Religious Songs’, “how does he expect to be happy when he listens to death metal bands?” The Twilight Sad are excellent for the very reason that they deal with pain and darkness in an affirming way, opening up difficult, alienating emotions to show that we are all difficult, emotional aliens. And that we are these things together.

You can buy the album now from FatCat Records, The Twilight Sad’s website or their Bandcamp page.

The post The Twilight Sad – Nobody Wants to be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Tracklisting:

1. Lovecrimes (Frank Ocean Cover) – The Afghan Whigs
2. Little Dreamer (Future Islands Cover) – Doe Paoro
3. Bad Days (Flaming Lips Cover) – Siskiyou
4. Again (Janet Jackson Cover) – How To Dress Well
5. Dog Song (Mountain Man Cover) – Stupid Loser
6. Celebrated (Husker Du Cover) – Mark Kozelek
7. Say Say Say (Michael Jackson & Paul McCartney) – Woodpigeon
8. Zebra (Beach House Cover) – Yellow Ostrich
9. Atmosphere (Joy Division Cover) – Flowers Of Hell
10. Climbing Up The Walls (Radiohead Cover) – The Twilight Sad
11. Islands In The Stream (Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton) – Constantines & Feist
12. Louie Louie (Richard Berry/The Kingsmen Cover) – The Royal Iguana Fur
13. Harvest Moon (Neil Young Cover) – The Sour Notes
14. Into The Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Paul Baribeau
15. Forgiveness (Patty Griffin Cover) – The Local Strangers
16. Calling And Not Calling My Ex (Okkervil River Cover) – Ola Podrida
17. Please Please Please Let M Get What I Want (The Smiths Cover) – Pickering Pick
18. Jesus, Etc. (Wilco Cover) – Bill Fay
19. Look At Miss Ohio (Gillian Welch Cover) – Blind Pilot
20. The Party’s Over/No Children (Willie Nelson/Mountain Goats Cover) – Manchester Orchestra

Please support the artists by exploring their other releases and becoming huge and dedicated fans.

The Covers Mix: Volume #4 from Wake The Deaf on 8tracks Radio.

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Meursault aren’t exactly new, they released their debut album, Pissing on Bonfires/Kissing With Tongues, in 2008 (with local label Song, By Toad) and released another, All Creatures Will Make Merry, to critical acclaim in 2010. Neil Pennycook’s grand-sounding voice is equally suited to the acoustic folky songs, the quicker electronic numbers and the fuzzy lo-fi efforts. Neil and Co. have what it takes to become huge, at least to the audience that listens to honest, well-crafted music.

“Bury me face down. Bury me so I might see the ground.”

*Video by Song, By Toad. Read Matthew’s blog for some hidden gems and brutally honest reviews.

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