Turin Brakes
Lost Property
(Cooking Vinyl)
Turin Brakes have been musically active with songs such as ‘Painkiller’, ‘Fishing For A Dream’ and ‘Time and Money’ amongst others dominating both the airwaves and the charts. They have now returned with a new studio album entitled ‘Lost Property’.
Opening track ‘96’ has a pleasant acoustic guitar intro which is swiftly followed by swirly electric guitar. When I first heard the opening line ‘Break my mind open, rebuild me backwards’ I actually thought it was a new Scissor Sisters song because of the lead vocal delivery but it isn’t electronic enough to be them. This track has the song at the forefront as the melody and overall tone is up-tempo but clearly sung as they have made sure that the song is the painting whilst all of the other components are the frame which holds the song and its structure together.
One of the singles from this release ‘Keep Me Around’ features some lush strings courtesy of Tom Piggot-Smith (violin), Oli Langford (violin), Max Baillie (viola) and Ian Burdge (cello). I will say that although this is a memorable number it is a bit disappointing that the radio version of this is a bit faster as I preferred that version and was surprised to hear a slower album version. I can only assume that the radio version may make the cut on the deluxe edition.
The title track features some lovely harmonies and is a very sad track but that is what Turin Brakes are so good at; creating songs which are full of emotion so that people can relate to them. My favourite cut on the album.
‘Rome’ hears Turin Brakes channelling their inner Springsteen and has some fluid drumming whilst ‘Brighter Than The Dark’ is quite peculiar and I couldn’t really understand what they were musically getting at.
‘Martini’ sounds like a folk song with the stripped down acoustic approach and is well-placed on ‘Lost Property’. ‘Jump Start’ reminds me of U2 from a production point of view as Olly Knights informs us ‘Everybody needs a jump start.’
‘Hope We Make It’ is an anthem which is sure to be a sing along favourite at live shows and is part of a trend of tracks about resilience and the future with some notable examples being Gary Clark Jr’s ‘Hold On’ and Duran Duran’s ‘Save A Prayer’. The acoustic guitar solo is technically well done and compliments the rhythm section.
Closer ‘Black Rabbit’ is haunting with the use of echoes and twangy electric guitar that create pictures of a deserted Wild West.
In summary, I wasn’t as excited about this album after hearing it as I was before I purchased. Having enjoyed their older material, I was curious to hear what they had been working on and although the title track is a triumph and ‘96’ showcases the talents of the entire band I can’t help but feel like they have spent most of this album trying to sound like other acts rather than develop their own sound.
An album with a few gems and talented musicians but otherwise a very ordinary album.
Glenn Sargeant
Turin Brakes new album ‘Lost Property’ is out now on Cooking Vinyl. In addition, Turin Brakes will be touring the UK extensively in 2016 with festival appearances and headline shows. You can find out where here: http://bit.ly/22bZIJ5
For more information visit Turin Brakes official website here: http://bit.ly/1QPHDYM
