The Optimist LP

by

Turin Brakes

Edit

I bought this record after catching the band live earlier this year, and marvelling at the rich and deep sound the pair could make without need for electronics. I was expecting an fine album created out of acoustic guitars and an excellent voice. However, i wasn't expecting the sheer brilliance scaled by this record.

From the opening piano chord of Feeling Oblivion, the record contains that most important of ingredients, it really connects with you. In the same way that Jeff Buckley, New Order and Coldplay evoke a feeling of glory and optimism from a melancholy yet uplifting sound, Turin Brakes deliver heartbraking, yet positive songs.

The opening five numbers, must rank as one of the best starts to a guitar bands career in recent times. The magnificient Underdog(save me) which has recently gained plentiful radio exposure in the UK, and is perhaps the finest tune of the album, begs with a future lover to 'Save me from myself, I can't be the only one stuck on the shelf'. In Feeling oblivion, he pleads 'If things get real, promise to take me somewhere else'. However this seemingly helpless longing is served by a fantastic delivery in terms of voice and sublime songwriting mastery.

If you are looking for a record to carry on where Travis and Coldplay have previously stepped, this is the one to buy, and is personally my favourite of the three. To sum up in one sentence, The Optimist LP is a gently earthshattering experience, so kick back, don the headphones and connect with the glorious melancholy.

Turin Brakes is flagged as the next thing in the British invasion on the heels of Travis, Coldplay and the like. Turin Brakes is the duo of Olly Knights (vocals/gtrs) and Gale Paridjanian (gtrs), sprouting accoustic gtr-based songs telling tales on the walk of life.

"The Optimist LP" is an encouraging debut, with ups and downs. The sound is primarily an intimate one, with just accoustic guitars for the most part, and Olly's quivering vocals, occasionally embellished with drums and bass. The songs evolve around themes of not knowing where to belong ("Feeling Oblivion", the lead off track on the CD... with a great mandolin supplementing the accoustic gtrs; also "Starship" with lyrics like "Given the chance I would leave this place on a rocketship to Mars"), job stress ("Underdog (Save Me) which is also the 2nd single, making dents in the UK charts), and lost love ("State of Things", the 3rd single of the album).

On a couple of occasions, the songs reminded me of things heard before. Best example is "The Door", the 1st single of the album, with its blatant use of the riff found in the 1965 song of Dave Berry's "Strange Effect" (anyone remember that one?), but also in "Future Boy" (reminding me of George Michael's "Praying for Time") and "Emergency 72 (reminding me of America's "Horse with No Name").

The CD is best summed up in its last song, the title track: "The Optimist" track is very much like many tracks: musically it has accoustic gtrs starting, then joined eventually by some drums and bass, and lyrically it talks about "I'm Planning The Greatest of Escapes... Soon I'm Gonna Stand Up... yeah, I'm Gonna Rear Up and There's No Escape"

Electric gtrs show up for the first time in "Slack" (track 8), one of the better tunes, as well as in the "hidden" bonus track, which pops up some 2 min. after "The Optimist" ends, an instrumental which is really intruiging.

Overall, this is an interesting debut. No Coldplay-like quality in my opinion, but I'm sure looking forward to future releases of Turin Brakes.