Review: Twin Atlantic, HMV Picture House

All of a sudden, young Glaswegian rockers Twin Atlantic are one of the biggest bands Scotland has produced this millennium. How did that happen? Quite simply, they had to go to America.

This year’s second album, Free, has taken off across the Atlantic, and the group have returned from a tour there to a heroes’ welcome.

Frankly, they deserve it. From a lower-level indie-rock bunch, they have morphed very quickly into an outfit on their way to arena stages.

Playing a set which was placed tonally between the muscular rock of Biffy Clyro and the more tender noise of the Twilight Sad, they were swathed in a fog of primary-coloured lights, adding a sense of drama to songs like What is Light? Where is Laughter?, Caribbean War Syndrome and Lightspeed.

The procession of efficient and euphoric pop choruses came to a head with Human After All, which broke down into a daring set-piece where singer Sam McTrusty dived into the crowd from a high podium, then things slowed into acoustic versions of Pixies’ Where is My Mind and their own delicate Crash Land. All were received with loud adoration, leading McTrusty to comment before the closing Free: “Never in our wildest dreams could we imagine this many people caring about our music.”