The Spree review: RSNO with Admiral Fallow and The Twilight Sad

Curated as part of Paisley’s arts festival The Spree, this inspired pairing of indie bands The Twilight Sad and Admiral Fallow with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, conducted by John Logan, will prove memorable.

Admiral Fallow

The RSNO with Admiral Fallow and The Twilight Sad - Paisley Abbey

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If it initially seemed odd to hear Admiral Fallow implore Isn’t This World Enough? up to the rafters of the former monastery, the vibrant horn backing and song’s decidedly happy-clappy vibe overcame the incongruity.

Similarly, The Twilight Sad’s James Graham, fretting about being sent to “the other place” for repeating the c-word during an unusually understated That Summer, At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy, the lighting desk bathing them in diabolic red light after resisting the urge during a soaring rendition of I Became A Prostitute, really needn’t have worried. The singer’s voice resounded with plaintive emotion, even as guitarist Andy McFarlane brought the melody to the fore and they eschewed the complexities of their usual wall of sound. The orchestra rose to an impressive crescendo with Graham’s impassioned wails on opener The Wrong Car and wonderfully supplemented the subtle drama of Alphabet.

But they were much more in attendance for Admiral Fallow, notwithstanding the spine-tingling version of the track Four Bulbs that garnered one of the biggest reactions of the gig. Certainly, on tracks like the nostalgic Subbuteo and closing number, the bewitching Burn, the band’s classically trained members were at one with their colleagues in the makeshift pit.