The foundation for the group started in Kilsyth and the neighbouring village of Banton, when vocalist James Graham met guitarist Andy MacFarlane in high school and went on to form a cover band with some friends, which included drummer Mark Devine.
After leaving school, they decided to take it more seriously.
In late 2003, MacFarlane met bassist Craig Orzel in a bus stop and invited him to join the newly formed band.
They took their name from a line in the poem But I Was Looking at the Permanent Stars by British poet Wilfred Owen, which reads "Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad."

They performed two highly experimental shows at The 13th Note Café in Glasgow that revolved around 30-minute noise jams with guitars, bass, drums, theremin, tape loops from films and old folk and country songs, effects pedals, toy keyboards, thumb pianos, and computer games.
Afterwards, they decided to take a more traditional approach, which led them to write their first song, "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy".

In September 2005, they produced a 4-song demo with a 24-track desk, trying to get the best representation as possible, and sent it over to Brighton-based Fat Cat Records.
Alex Knight, co-founder of the label, went to Glasgow to watch the band perform their third gig and signed them on the spot.
The demo recordings were later issued commercially on a split cassette tape release with Frightened Rabbit for Record Store Day in 2011.

The band credit Planet Sound for giving them their first review, when a demo of their song "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" received a 9/10 rating from the magazine in 2005.
James Graham remarked, "That was the first review we ever had... we were thrilled.
It gave us a lot of confidence we were on the right path."
The band's first commercial release, their self-titled EP, was mixed by label mate Max Richter and released in November 2006 in the United States only.
They then proceeded to play the fourth gig of their career at New York's CMJ Music Marathon.
During this time the band also toured with Micah P. Hinson and participated in 2007's South by Southwest music festival before their debut album was released.
The foundation for the group started in Kilsyth and the neighbouring village of Banton, when vocalist James Graham met guitarist Andy MacFarlane in high school and went on to form a cover band with some friends, which included drummer Mark Devine. After leaving school, they decided to take it more seriously. In late 2003, MacFarlane met bassist Craig Orzel in a bus stop and invited him to join the newly formed band. They took their name from a line in the poem But I Was Looking at the Permanent Stars by British poet Wilfred Owen, which reads "Sleep mothered them; and left the twilight sad."
They performed two highly experimental shows at The 13th Note Café in Glasgow that revolved around 30-minute noise jams with guitars, bass, drums, theremin, tape loops from films and old folk and country songs, effects pedals, toy keyboards, thumb pianos, and computer games. Afterwards, they decided to take a more traditional approach, which led them to write their first song, "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy".
In September 2005, they produced a 4-song demo with a 24-track desk, trying to get the best representation as possible, and sent it over to Brighton-based Fat Cat Records. Alex Knight, co-founder of the label, went to Glasgow to watch the band perform their third gig and signed them on the spot. The demo recordings were later issued commercially on a split cassette tape release with Frightened Rabbit for Record Store Day in 2011.
The band credit Planet Sound for giving them their first review, when a demo of their song "That Summer, at Home I Had Become the Invisible Boy" received a 9/10 rating from the magazine in 2005. James Graham remarked, "That was the first review we ever had... we were thrilled. It gave us a lot of confidence we were on the right path." The band's first commercial release, their self-titled EP, was mixed by label mate Max Richter and released in November 2006 in the United States only. They then proceeded to play the fourth gig of their career at New York's CMJ Music Marathon. During this time the band also toured with Micah P. Hinson and participated in 2007's South by Southwest music festival before their debut album was released.
The Twilight Sad