Emperor Twilight, by The Autumn Stones

Emperor Twilight marks the third album for The Autumn Stones as they come to year 10 under this banner. The received wisdom posits that one’s first album is the product of years of honing and preparation while one’s second album is made with urgency, forcing a songwriter to learn to write with quickness as well as quality. It’s on one’s third album that the true nature reveals itself. These first two statements aren’t entirely accurate in this context – but one could confidently make a persuasive case for The Autumn Stones being very much on their truest stride with Emperor Twilight.

Ciaran Megahey, principal songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, is the one constant through the timeline of The Autumn Stones and Emperor Twilight may be his most cohesively focused collection of songs. Responsible for the words and how they are phrased, Megahey is reticent to confine his themes to a rigid narrative but states in spite of the low-lit title, together with songs of Nightmares, Shadows, Bombs and Fails liberally sprinkled with his trademark, jaundiced view of humanity’s none-too-occasional shortcomings, this album is, in fact, his most optimistic. “I’m a little preoccupied with exploring human nature’s dark side. I guess I have always thought of that as the artist’s role in culture,” he offers. “I think, for all the gloom easily pointed out, there’s a lot to be hopeful over and cheered by in the world. Emperor Twilight is also about being grateful for that and resisting the temptation to be cynical.”

Produced by The Autumn Stones alongside Andy Magoffin at House of Miracles (The Hidden Cameras, Great Lake Swimmers, The Constantines), Emperor Twilight is comprised of eight songs – five co-written by Megahey and guitarist Dan Dervaitis – which range widely in their sources of inspiration. Lovebomb is concerned with the creation of our universe, literally the Big Bang. The lyric line “Stranger than Imagination” is a nod to the JBS Haldane quote “My own suspicion is that the Universe is not only queerer than we suppose but queerer than we can suppose”. This quote also owes something to the line in Hamlet; “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” You could say this song suffuses a scientific worldview with a sense of beauty, wonder, and awe. Another of the ‘love’ titles, Mandatory Love, is about authoritarian ideology, while Nightmares shares much the same DNA: how utopian visions and the tribal and hypocritical aspects of our nature give rise to authoritarianism. Absent are songs of cars ‘n’ girls – Emperor Twilight has weighty matters on the mind.

Originally formed in 2009, The Autumn Stones released their first LP, Companions of the Flame, in 2011 and began making their reputation on the Toronto club scene. Their next album, Escapists, released in 2015, drew favorable reviews from outlets such as PopMatters and The Quietus, eliciting comparisons to The Smiths and Roxy Music. Along the way, the band’s rhythm section changed hands (now Raymond Cara on drums, Marcus Tamm on bass) and guitarist Dervaitis, who also contributes Hammond and Wurlitzer to the album, adding layers of rich filigree which support the ever-increasing focus on melody in composition.

This is exemplified with Fontana, a celebration of life which features organ and strings swirling and climbing to an ecstatic crescendo; “It’s like a shower of joy and rainbows / It’s like the spring it sings / Fontana”. The Bigger They Fail and Every Little Shadow are poised to be among the band’s most affecting and hummable works, while lead single Mandatory Love is a fast-paced, motoric rush that showcases a newfound sense of urgency for the band.

This urgency will be on display at The Autumn Stones continue to bring their dream-pop, post-punk sound to audiences in person. Having shared the stage with acts like The DMA’s, In-Flight Safety, The Golden Suits and The Cribs, the live setting is an essential component in the band’s expression of vision.

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