Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters is the debut studio album by Scottish indie rock band The Twilight Sad, released by Fat Cat Records on April 3, 2007 in the US, and May 7, 2007 in the UK. The album features production from Peter Katis and the band themselves.^[1] It was recorded over a short period of just three days, and the songs featured were the first ones the band had ever written.^[2]

Vocalist James Graham commented on the difference between the band's live show 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."^[3]

"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,^[4] Arab Strap, Serge Gainsbourg, and Leonard Cohen.^[5]

Lyrical content

Regarding the album's lyrical content, Graham remarked that:^[6]

Critical reception

Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters was released to mostly positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a favourable score of 79, based on 16 reviews.^[7] Pitchfork Media praised the "vividness of the lyrical themes" and "street-level earthiness", awarding the album an 8.6 out of 10 rating.^[14] The Skinny awarded the album 5 out of 5 stars, hailing the album as "one of the finest Scottish albums in years."^[16] Both The Skinny and Teletext's music page Planet Sound named Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters as the best album of 2007. Regarding the 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," adding that "[the band] didn't expect anyone else to like it."

In December 2007, the album's opening track "Cold Days from the Birdhouse" was voted number 73 on Pitchfork Media's "Top 100 Tracks of 2007" list.^[19] In December 2009, Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters ranked number 2 in The Skinny's "Scottish Albums of the Decade" list.^[20]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Andy MacFarlane and James Graham; arranged by The Twilight Sad. 

Release history

Credits

The Twilight Sad

• James Alexander Graham – vocals
• Andy MacFarlane – guitar, accordion
• Craig Orzel – bass
• Mark Devine – drums

Recording personnel

• Produced by The Twilight Sad
• 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 (at Tarquin Studios, Bridgeport, Connecticut)
• Alan Douches – mastering (at West West Side Music)
• Jesse Baccus – mastering (at West West Side Music)

Artwork

• dlt – artwork

References

1. ^ Album Synopsis - fatcatrecords.co.uk
2. ^ DiS meets The Twilight Sad
3. ^ Twilight Sad's fly by night summer stopover - Impose
4. ^ FatCat Records: Releases
5. ^ Q&A: The Twilight Sad - TLOBF.COM
6. ^ Interview With The Twilight Sad » Late Night Wallflower
7. ^ ^{a b} "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters by The Twilight Sad". Metacritic. CNET Networks, Inc. http://www.metacritic.com/music/artists/twilightsad/fourteenautumnsandfifteenwinters. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
8. ^ Phares, Heather. "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r1023835. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
9. ^ "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". Almost Cool. http://www.almostcool.org/mr/1961/. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
10. ^ Murray, Noel (8 May 2007). "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". The A.V. Club. http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-twilight-sad-fourteen-autumns-fifteen-winters,7849/. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
11. ^ Marwood, Ben (10 May 2007). "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". Drowned in Sound. http://drownedinsound.com/releases/10015/reviews/1963970-. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
12. ^ K, Gary (8 May 2007). "The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters". The Music Fix. http://www.themusicfix.co.uk/content.php?contentid=4282. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
13. ^ Briercliffe, Simon (24 April 2007). "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns And Fifteen Winters". No Ripcord. http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/the-twilight-sad/fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
14. ^ ^{a b} Richardson, Mark (12 April 2007). "Pitchfork: Album Reviews: The Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/10111-fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters/. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
15. ^ Vietze, Andrew (3 April 2007). "Twilight Sad: Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". PopMatters. http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/32062/twilight-sad-fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters/. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
16. ^ ^{a b} Brown, Ally (10 May 2007). "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". The Skinny. http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/39422-the-twilight-sad---fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
17. ^ May 2007 issue, pg.91
18. ^ Miller, Derek (13 April 2007). "The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/the-twilight-sad/fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters.htm. Retrieved 18 May 2010. 
19. ^ "Pitchfork: Staff Lists: Top 100 Tracks of 2007". Pitchfork Media. 17 December 2007. http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6752-top-100-tracks-of-2007/3/. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
20. ^ Stafford, Adam (1 December 2009). "Scottish Albums of the Decade #2: The Twilight Sad - Fourteen Autumns and Fifteen Winters". The Skinny. http://www.theskinny.co.uk/article/97657-scottish-albums-of-the-decade-2-the-twilight-sad---fourteen-autumns-and-fifteen-winters. Retrieved 3 August 2010. 
21. ^ ^{a b} "Twilight Sad, The - Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters (CD, Album) at Discogs". http://www.discogs.com/release/1970527. Retrieved 20 December 2010.