Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Infobox Album
Name = Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
Type = studio
Artist = The Twilight Sad


Released = 3 April 2007
Recorded = Chem19 Studios
Ca Va Studios
Genre = Indie rock
Length = 44:37
Label = Fat Cat
Producer = The Twilight Sad
Peter Katis
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jpfexzw5ldfe link]
*Almost Cool rating-10|7.3 [http://www.almostcool.org/mr/1961/ link]
*"The A.V. Club" [http://www.avclub.com/content/music/the_twilight_sad link]
*CD Times rating-10|9 [http://www.cdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=4282 link]
*Drowned in Sound rating-10|8 [http://www.drownedinsound.com/release/view/10015 link]
*No Ripcord rating-10|10 [http://www.noripcord.com/?q=node/631 link]
*Pitchfork Media (8.6/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42291-fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters link]
*plattentests.de rating-10|8 [http://plattentests.de/rezi.php?show=4837 link]
*PopMatters rating-10|7 [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/32062/twilight-sad-fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters/ link]
*soundsect.com Rating|3.5|5 [http://soundsect.com/review/125.html link]
*Stylus Magazine (B+) [http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-twilight-sad/fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters.htm link]
*The Line of Best Fit (92%) [http://thelineofbestfit.com/2007/05/01/the-twilight-sad-fourteen-autumns-fifteen-winters/ link]
Last album = The Twilight Sad
(2006)
This album = Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters
(2007)
Next album = Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did (2008)
Misc = Singles
Name = Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters
Type = studio
single 1 = That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy
single 1 date = April 2, 2007
single 2 = And She Would Darken the Memory
single 2 date = June 17, 2007

"Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters" is the debut album by Scottish indie band The Twilight Sad. It was released by FatCat Records on April 3 2007 in the United States and Canada, and on May 7 2007 in Europe. The album features production from Peter Katis and the band themselves. [ [http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=221 Album Synopsis - fatcatrecords.co.uk] ]

Singer, James Graham, commented on the difference between the band's live shows and the album, stating that:

"if you came to see us live before you actually heard the record or any recordings we made, you’d probably think we were kind of a noisy band. If you had the record and sat down with it, you can totally see it’s more than noise." [ [http://www.imposemagazine.com/mag/?p=1039 Twilight Sad’s fly by night summer stopover| Impose ] ]

"That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy", "Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard" and "And She Would Darken the Memory" also appear on the band's debut EP, "The Twilight Sad", while four tracks from the album would later appear on "Here, It Never Snowed. Afterwards It Did" in a re-recorded state.

The album's influences include: Van Dyke Parks, Phil Spector, Daniel Johnston [ [http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/release.php?id=221 FatCat Records : Releases ] ] , Arab Strap, Serge Gainsbourg and Leonard Cohen. [http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2007/05/04/qa-the-twilight-sad/ Q&A: The Twilight Sad | TLOBF.COM | Music Reviews, News, Interviews & Downloads ] ]

Lyrical Content

Regarding the album's lyrical content, Graham remarked that:

"all the songs are just pretty much about what’s happened to us, people that I know, and where we live. [...] I never really tell anyone what the songs are about because my favorite songs are the ones that I don’t really know the exact meanings too either; I have my own perceptions of those songs and can relate it back to myself. So, it’s just something that I always said, that I would keep what the songs are all about to myself. [ [http://www.latenightwallflower.com/site/2007/08/02/interview-with-the-twilight-sad/ Interview With The Twilight Sad » Late Night Wallflower ] ]

Reception

The album received generally positive reviews, with a Metacritic score of 79, based on 16 reviews. [ [http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/twilightsad/fourteenautumnsandfifteenwinters The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (2007): Reviews ] ] Pitchfork Media praised the "vividness of the lyrical themes" and "street-level earthiness". [ [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42291-fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters: Pitchfork Record Review ] ]

Teletext's music page Planet Sound and The Skinny awarded "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters" as the best album of 2007.

Regarding album's warm critical reception, guitarist, Andy MacFarlane, stated that the band didn't expect the acclaim and that they: "just wanted to release something that we were happy with, we didn’t expect anyone else to like it."

Track listing

All tracks written by James Graham and Andy MacFarlane, and arranged by The Twilight Sad.

#"Cold Days From the Birdhouse" – 6:13
#"That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" – 4:48
#"Walking For Two Hours" – 5:15
#"Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard" – 3:19
#"Talking with Fireworks/Here, It Never Snowed" – 5:14
#"Mapped by What Surrounded Them" – 4:02
#"And She Would Darken the Memory" – 5:49
#"I'm Taking the Train Home" – 5:51
#"Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters" – 4:06

B-Sides
*"Watching That Chair Painted Yellow" - 5:31
*"That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" (Ensemble remix) - 4:17

Personnel

* James Alexander Graham - vocals, producer
* Andy MacFarlane - guitar, accordian, producer
* Mark Devine - drums, producer
* Craig Orzel - bass, producer
* Paul Savage - engineer
* David Paterson - engineer ("That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy", "Last Year's Rain Didn't Fall Quite So Hard" and "And She Would Darken the Memory")
* Peter Katis - mixing
* Alan Douches - mastering
* Jesse Baccus - mastering

References