The Twilight Sad are telling a human story

The power of music has the uncanny ability to present itself in so many different ways. The creator can put forth what they’re feeling through the songwriting process, and often when this happens, it can make a genuine connection with whoever is listening. This symbiosis can be a special thing to experience, and it’s readily apparent in the latest full-length from the Scottish post-punks The Twilight Sad, It’s the Long Goodbye. With vocalist James Graham and multi-instrumentalist Andy MacFarlane as the band’s creative core, there’s a distorted emphasis that comes across in songs like “Designed To Lose,” “Attempt A Crash Landing – Theme,” and “Dead Flowers.”

I spoke to Graham about the creation of the new album, bringing a few friends into the fold, and how the story behind the full-length is a very human one. 

Treble: For the making of It’s The Long Goodbye, what was the joint vision that you and Andy both had during the entire process? From listening to the songs, there definitely seems to be a cathartic tone.

James Graham: The title of the album itself refers to the passing of my mother. She had early onset dementia, which she was diagnosed with back in 2016, and within that period, I became a father. I have two sons now, but within that period as well, my mental health deteriorated very badly and I had to take a lot of time off on doctor’s orders to rest and get better. Within that seven-year period, the record was written and after four or five tracks, if I was well enough to write, I would see which song I could connect with first. Then I’d try to get the feelings out of my head and my body through the music, which was definitely cathartic. 

I’ve always used music as a form of therapy, but I really wasn’t well enough during periods to be in a band, to be honest. I had to focus on my family after my mother passed, which was an horrific experience to see her health decline before she eventually died, and “It’s the long goodbye” is a lyric from one of the songs “Attempt A Crash Landing – Theme.” It really does sum up the seven years where I said goodbye to my mom, along with saying goodbye to my brain at one point, while getting better through medication and rest. My family and my friends helped me through it and I was able to put all my feelings down with Andy’s music and we have a record now. 

Treble: My condolences about your mother and it’s great to see that you’ve been able to turn a corner rather than get lost in the miasma of what mental health can be, I know it can have a major effect on people. 

JG: Thank you. 

Treble: You brought in Robert Smith from The Cure for “Waiting For The Phone Call,” so how did you go about getting him involved? I know you’ve toured together, so was this an idea that was planned out way ahead of time?

JG: Robert’s a friend now, which is surreal. There’s thousands of bands in the world he could have picked to tour with, but he saw something within us and it turns out that we both write music for the same reasons. He’s been one of the reasons why we’re still a band and he loves what we do. Through everything, he was there with me and during those horrible times, knowing there was somebody like Robert, who is one of the greatest songwriters and best artists of all-time, believing in what we did, just gave me a little bit more of a get up and go. He was involved with the making of the record from the early stages, we sent him the demos and then we met up in London.

As we listened to the demos, he had a notepad and he was making different suggestions. He would always say “Try this” or “Try that,” he never said “Do this” or “Do that,” he wanted us to try stuff out to see what it’s like and how it works out. Of course, it worked every time, but not only has he helped us, I feel like he helped me get through what I was dealing with. Doing the tours that we did together was such an inspiration for me to get out of my house and get these things out of myself as well, so he’s been part of the band for a long time. He’s a great person to work with and he’s a friend, but he also helped us realize the freedom of making mistakes. 

You don’t have to be embarrassed when someone is sitting beside you and you’ve said a stupid thing or sang a stupid thing. Just having the freedom to mess about with songs, it was an amazing time to have. 

Treble: This the first time you and Andy did a Twilight Sad album primarily as a duo, correct? 

JG: Yes, but at the same time, every record has been created the same. Andy will write the music, send it to me, and then I do my thing and we’ll go back and forth, so it was the same writing process, but the only difference was that we had different musicians playing with us. We got David Jeans from Arab Strap and Alex Mackay from Mogwai to play with us. Alex played bass, David played drums, and it was amazing to have them on the record because without those bands, we wouldn’t be a band either. It feels like a dream to have elements of all of our favorite bands come and help us with this record. It felt different due to the circumstances that we were in, but it felt very familiar to write the way we were writing together.

Treble: In an overall sense, what would you say is the most artistically fulfilling thing for you when it comes to It’s The Long Goodbye? What do you feel gives you the biggest sense of accomplishment? 

JG: I’m still learning about the record, to be honest. I hadn’t spoken about the record until I started doing interviews about it and I’m actually finding things about it that’s been helping me because I’m in a better place than I was when I was writing it. It’s still a work in progress, but I can now look back and start to understand why I was feeling the way I was feeling and how I was feeling the way I was feeling. I actually look back on that time with pride because I did it, I got it out of myself and just the fact that this record exists is a win for me personally. I didn’t know if I’d be doing this again, I didn’t know if I could, and I didn’t know if anybody wanted to hear a Twilight Sad record. 

Artistically, I can look at it as well through how I pushed myself both vocally and lyrically. I’ve realized that I’m a singer, which I hadn’t thought about before with other records, and I really want to show people that I’m as good as I possibly can be and I’m not a one-trick pony either. You’ll get bands saying about their record when it comes out that it’s the best thing they’ve ever made, and I’ll never really want to say that, but for me, this is my defining record. It has everything from me that I wanted to put in it and when I listen to it, I can say that I couldn’t have done anything else. 

T: When it comes to connecting with the listener, what do you want them to take from It’s The Long Goodbye after they check it out?

JG: It’s a very human story. Every one of us is going to go through loss of some kind and a lot of us go through mental struggles throughout our lives. If you don’t, then you’re a very lucky person. I hope that people are just able to connect with the music in general but also, as they listen to the record, they realize that they don’t have to feel the way I felt all the time. It will get better and it can get better. I hope people like the record, but I also hope it can help them get through something. 

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