Pitchfork

Ever since The Joshua Tree, way too many bands have tried matching the self-proclaiming transcendence that plenty of otherwise reasonable people find in U2 anthems. New Fat Cat signees the Twilight Sad do to every would-be "With or Without You" what Jimi Hendrix did to "The Star-Spangled Banner". Co-produced by German-born labelmate and "post-classical" composer Max Richter, the Glaswegian quartet's "And She Would Darken the Memory" obliterates its own romantic swoop in post-shoegaze explosions-- and that's fucking transcendent.

Others, notably the Walkmen, have taken a similarly destructive approach to unrelenting basslines and cascades of ringing guitars. But where those New Yorkers' "The Rat" was downtown sleazy, "And She Would Darken the Memory of Youth" is practically apocalyptic, its stoic drone convulsing in peals of red-line thunder near the closing seconds. "I'm putting up with your constant whine," James Graham sings, with poise and a thick burr. It's hard to tell who's the asshole here, but my vote's usually for any guy who calls himself Bono Vox.