Dark and Stormy Car Ride

The Twilight Sad has made it clear they aren’t trying to be the big festival headliners. As long as they can make enough money to tour and record, they’re happy. And now that they’ve released their fourth album, Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave, they’ve clearly accomplished that, and then a little more.

The Scotland natives have played together since 2003, with only slight changes in the band’s line-up: Bassist Craig Orzel left in 2010 and a new bassist was never obtained (although for live performances you’ll see bassist Johnny Docherty), and Martin “Dok” Doherty stopped playing keys in live performances to focus on his other musical project, Chvrches. You won’t find many bands that are sans-bassist, yet have a full-time accordion player.

You don’t even have to listen to the album to sense gloom. All 10 tracks have gloomy titles, starting with the first one, titled “There’s A Girl In The Corner.” “In Nowheres” starts off sounding like it could be included in a Rob Zombie horror movie soundtrack with its creepy off-toned keyboard sound and chugging guitar. Lead vocalist James Graham is well known for his thick Scottish accent in his songs, which contributes to the gloom. The self-titled song is a prime track to listen to if you’re a fan of Graham’s vocals and accent, and also if you like fuzzed-out guitars. Trying to decipher what he’s saying can be a bit of a challenge, though.

And while the titles just get sadder, with tear-jerkers like “Drown So I Can Watch” and “Pills I Swallow” they don’t always reflect that musically. “Drown” is actually one of the lighter songs on the album.

When is it a good time to listen to Nobody Wants To Be Here And Nobody Wants To Leave? During dark stormy car rides. When you want to channel your inner creep. On those nights you’re sitting in your room alone with nothing to do but listen to new music. It’s best to listen to Nobody in its entirety rather than pick a few songs, since the album works as one full piece, not 10 small pieces.