The Wrong Car is a shining example of how to capture a particular mood in song; the tone is dark and brooding, fitting perfectly with James Graham’s sinister lyrics and his moody Scottish tone. The trademark wall-of-sound noise is reigned in for the verses, letting the strings take the fore with their sorrowful lilt accompanied by mournful piano chords. This gives a delicious extra weight to the chorus when the noise does kick in, an emphasis further punctuated by some powerful singing (arguably Graham’s best to date) and some pretty huge sounding drums sounding like a giant stomping beastie getting its stomp on. As a testament to the quality on show the 7 and a half minutes fly by and at the end you’re left itching to reach for the repeat button.
Following up such an epic track is always going to be difficult and Throw Yourself Into The Water Again suffers slightly in comparison due to it’s more formulaic nature. That’s not to say that it’s not a good song, it’s more your traditional shoegaze fare and would sound equally at home on either album. Again, the dark theme of the lyrics carries through, but this time enveloped so much by distortion and feedback that you have to strain against the wall of noise to hear them.
To be totally honest, I’m never usually a fan of remixes. Off the top of my head I can’t remember a single remix I’ve heard that wasn’t inferior to the original. However, Mogwai’s remix of The Room may be the first, creating something hauntingly beautiful and poignant that perhaps even surpasses the original. Stripping back the louder aspects of the song and allowing electronic beats and distorted, delayed vocals to combine with a distant piano to elevate the sense of sorrow and reflection that existed in the original. Error’s version of Reflection of the Television irks me a little though. The music itself is fairly decent, but it sounds like they’ve just shoe-horned the vocals into one of their own songs and it doesn’t fit with the feel of the song in the slightest. I’m sure some people will love it, but it’s not for me I’m afraid.
If you’re a fan of The Twilight Sad then you’ll probably have this already, but if you’re not, or you’re undecided about them then I highly recommend getting the EP just for the title track and the Mogwai remix alone!
Oh, and you can check out the beautiful and yet slightly creepy video here: