The Twilight Sad are an indie rock band from Kilsyth, Scotland formed in la… Read Full Bio ↴The Twilight Sad are an indie rock band from Kilsyth, Scotland formed in late 2003. The band is composed of James Alexander Graham (vocals), Andy MacFarlane (guitar/keyboards) and Mark Devine (drums). They have released five full-length albums: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (2007), Forget The Night Ahead (2009), No One Can Ever Know (2012), Nobody Wants to Be Here and Nobody Wants to Leave (2014) and It Won/t Be Like This All the Time (2019). Where their debut album mixed post-rock and post-punk with heavily delayed shoegaze guitars and folk elements, their second album is more influenced by early krautrock. The band experienced a stylistic shift on their third album that replaced the wall of sound with analog synths in a new wave style.

The band started up by playing a couple of gigs at the 13th Note in Glasgow, creating half hour-long pieces of music using guitars, bass, drums, theremin, tape loops from films and old folk/country songs, effects pedals, toy keyboards, thumb pianos, saws, computer games, and a lot of noise, in an attempt to try and discover a sound they could call their own and continue to develop. After these two shows, they rejected many gig offers, and became a more reclusive unit, spending any spare time they had in the studio focused on writing and sculpting away at new material.

In September 2005, they produced a 4-song demo with a 24-track desk, trying to get the best representation as possible, sent it over to Brighton-based Fat Cat Records. Alex Knight, co-founder of the label, went to Glasgow to watch the band perform their third gig and signed them on the spot. In November 2006, they made their first official release with The Twilight Sad, a US-only EP that helped bring attention to the band, as well as performances at CMJ '06 and SXSW '07 Festivals.

Their debut album, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters, was recorded over a short period of three days and featured the first songs the band had ever created. It received good critical reception from the independent music media and turned the band into a reference point for the up-and-coming scottish indie scene at the time. Where the band’s recorded sound is layered with many melodies, their live sound is a more intense experience which replaces the intricacies of the recordings with a more visceral wall of sound, which is something the band intended to do all along.

In June 2008, they released the Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did EP, which included off-the-cuff reworkings of songs from the debut album, alongside the title track and a cover of Daniel Johnston, an artist they've cited as one of their main influences. The idea came about after the band played at London's Union Chapel, a venue with noise restrictions that forced them to perform with a more basic line-up of a fan organ, glockenspiel and percussion. During this time, the band recruited Martin "Dok" Docherty (formerly of Aereogramme) to play keyboards and additional guitar during the live shows. At the end of 2008, they released Killed My Parents and Hit the Road, a compilation to help fund their tour with fellow scots Mogwai. It consisted of live recordings, acoustic tracks, previously unreleased material, new demos and covers, which included The Smiths, Joy Division and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

Their second album, Forget The Night Ahead, was released in September 2009. For the recording process, the band disposed of their effect pedals and experimented with natural reverb using early krautrock techniques, like mic'ing up inside the studio walls and rooms on the other side of the building to get the drum sound. During this time, original bassist Craig Orzel left the band to pursue other projects. He was replaced in the live setting by Johnny Docherty of Take a Worm for a Walk Week. A year later the band released The Wrong Car EP that featured two b-sides from the 'Forget' sessions as well as remixes by fellow Scottish acts Mogwai and Errors.

The release of their third album No One Can Ever Know saw the band pursue a change in style, virtually eliminating delayed guitars and relying on vintage analog synthesizers instead. The album was recorded in February/March 2011 at The Pool studios in London and featured production assistance by Andrew Weatherall.

Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard
The Twilight Sad Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

She sings from a hole in her skin,
I only want to say good-bye

Take your hand and --write me with this pen--,
I only want to say good-bye

(and repeat)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to The Twilight Sad's song Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard is hauntingly beautiful and portrays a sense of longing and melancholy. The first two lines of the song, "She sings from a hole in her skin, I only want to say good-bye" is especially poignant as it seems to suggest that the person is in a state of deep despair and sadness. The use of the phrase "hole in her skin" alludes to the idea of a wound or a deep emotional scar that the person is carrying.

The subsequent lines of the song "Take your hand and --write me with this pen--, I only want to say good-bye" seem to suggest that the person is trying to communicate with someone, perhaps someone who is no longer alive or someone who is far away. The repetition of the phrase "I only want to say good-bye" further emphasizes the sense of loss and longing that pervades the song. The use of the pen to write is in contrast to the "hole in her skin" and perhaps indicates that while the person is emotionally wounded, they are still trying to communicate and connect with others.

Overall, the song Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard is a powerful exploration of loss, longing, and the human desire to connect and communicate with others, even in the face of sadness and despair.

Line by Line Meaning

She sings from a hole in her skin,
Her soul is wounded and she expresses her pain through her singing.

I only want to say good-bye
All I want is to bid farewell to someone, who may or may not be the singer.

Take your hand and --write me with this pen--,
Extend your help and use your pen to communicate with me as I want to say goodbye to someone.

I only want to say good-bye
Again, reiterating the desire to part ways with someone, possibly a loved one.

Contributed by Aubrey R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

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