Hail, Tartancore!: Young Musical Bravehearts Are Defining Scottish Indie

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NONE WOULD BE an appropriate soundtrack for Scottish patriot William Wallace to fire up the troops, but the high quality of indie-rock bands coming out of Scotland feels revolutionary.

From the reverbed noise-pop of Glasvegas and dramatic, strings-laden compositions of My Latest Novel and Broken Records to the nervy post-punk-guitar pop of Frightened Rabbit, We Were Promised Jetpacks and The Twilight Sad, there's a shared yearning quality to their dramatic songs.

The final three bands are all close friends, and the latter two are touring the U.S. together. And it was Frightened Rabbit that helped get Jetpacks signed to its label, Fat Cat, which is also home to The Twilight Sad.

"It's great to see all these bands very much influenced by each other," said Jetpacks bassist Sean Smith, who recalled a recent trip to London with the Twilight Sad. "On the way back up in the van, we got pulled over by the police. The van was really overweight, and half of us got chucked out of the van in the middle of England somewhere. I didn't even know where we were. We had to get a taxi and two trains [to get home]."

Jetpacks' excellent debut, "These Four Walls," combines the passionate melodies of Frightened Rabbit with a more rhythmic drive, along with singer Adam Thompson's desolate lyrics. "I love the depressing quality about [the album]," Smith said.

Melancholic narratives also define The Twilight Sad, whose music combines a noisier edge and grander buildups to chaos, especially live.

"The thing about our band," said smoky-voiced singer James Graham, "and I've found this with other bands as well, that those writing the dark music are usually really happy people."

Graham is smiling now, but during the events that inspired the band's stunning second album, "Forget the Night Ahead," he was a wee bit miserable. The record documents Graham's time after the band was home from touring its debut CD, 2007's "Fourteen Autumns & Fifteen Winters."

"It's hard to transition from going away and having quite a lot of constant highs — playing music is a great thing. Coming from that to nothing is quite strange," Graham said, plus someone close to him died. "It was just a dark time for me," which led to many excesses, especially with the grog.

"Everything's all good now," he said, but fans need not worry about The Twilight Sad changing its name to Mid-Morning Joy. "I like sad songs more than I like happy songs," Graham said."Why people like dark music so much is that they can relate to it."

Maybe William Wallace would rally around these sons of Scotland after all.

» Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW; with BrakesBrakesBrakes, Oct. 5, 8:30 p.m., $12-$14; 800-551-7328. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photos courtesy Fat Cat