Turin Brakes
Outbursts
Cooking Vinyl
Jun 17, 2010 Web Exclusive
There are two distinct groups that like the U.K.-based duo Turin Brakes. First group: those who own every album, notice minute distinctions in style, have a distinct memory attached to every song, think they were robbed of the Mercury Music Prize, and make big fools of themselves around the band. Second group: absolutely love Turin Brakes’ “Painkiller (Summer Rain)” and have no idea who the artist is.
The acoustic neo-folk of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian sounds just as emotive and delicate as ever on their latest long-player, Outbursts. If anything, with the more stripped-down nature of Outbursts, further intimacy is added into the equation. Opener “Sea Change”—with its clever riffs, punctuating bongos, and intricate harmonies—is the strongest track, with more substance and definition than the rest of the album. “Radio Silence” characterizes itself with a fleshed out arrangement that the rest of Outbursts could have benefited from. There is a touch of country than not previously heard on a Turin Brakes release, such as on the down home twangs of “Never Stops” and “Paper Heart”—a sweetly self-indulgent nursery rhyme. There is little distinction, however, between the tracks. Knights’ clear tones don’t vary much, the string plucks don’t stray far from a safe middle ground, and the melodies blend together into one unidentifiable—sometimes draggy (see the inexcusable Starsailor-esque “Will Power”)—whole.
For the aforementioned first group of fans, Outbursts, will meet all expectations—particularly since this type of low-key, overly emotional, sentimental musing is what they want from Turin Brakes. For the second group, they never knew there was a Turin Brakes to begin with and Outbursts is not going to change that. (www.turinbrakes.com)
Author rating: 5/10
Average reader rating: 7/10
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