For anyone familiar with the five albums The Twilight Sad has made to date, it would probably come as no surprise to hear their new one is a bit dark and brooding. (That’s an understatement.) Indeed, the Scottish band has made despair its stock-in-trade since the very beginning, with singer James Graham repeatedly facing his demons and sadness head-on. But for It’s the Long Goodbye (Rock Action Records), he has seemingly plunged into an even deeper emotional pool, making for songs that are at times downright harrowing.

The album was made while Graham watched his mother’s health deteriorate from dementia before she eventually passed away in 2024, and that experience weighs heavily on the record. On the leadoff track, he sings of coming back home over a dense swirl of guitar that lends the song a heightened sense of urgency. Andy MacFarlane, Graham’s songwriting partner and the only other remaining Twilight Sad principal, is responsible for creating the sonic backdrop that’s able to handle the weight of these songs and even make them soar. On “Waiting for the Phone Call,” which is about the call no one wants to get, a mix of electronic tones and beats gives the song a pulse and keeps it from being swallowed within the wall of guitars created by MacFarlane and the band’s biggest booster, The Cure’s Robert Smith. For all the darkness this record contains, there’s also something very radiant about it, the noise and emotional upheaval also allowing room for a resilient warmth. The Twilight Sad has long channeled suffering into brilliant art, but with this album, they’ve transcended it to reveal something of the human condition.