Turin Brakes - JackInABox

Genre rock Publisher Astralwerks External Links Official Website Astralwerks

A couple of very good songs here: the opener, "They Can't Buy the Sunshine," and "Asleep with the Fishes." As a modern take on the folk-rock of 1971, not bad. Even the songs which seem a bit obvious have something to recommend them, like canny choruses/bridges, nice and understated use of synths and other non-folkie instrumentation. In fact, this is sort of post-Stereolab folk-rock, and as such fits in nicely with the album I was listening to before I put this one on, 1970's John Phillips (also known as Wolf King of L.A..

The band sounds relaxed and easygoing, despite the rather dark subject matter of many of these songs. As a song about wanting to be in California or somewhere (rather than London, I suppose), "They Can't Buy the Sunshine" ranks up there with anything off the first Thrills album (which this resembles in its sorta half-assed yet loveable tone), if not with "California Dreaming" or the Byrds's "Don't Make Waves." The press kit I got describes "Buildings Wrap Around Me" as "country and western ideas applied to a hymn of London," which as a native of Nashville I find woefully inaccurate. It's a nice song but it's pure folkie--you won't find any country or western musician using those chords, I don't believe.

The singing is a bit post- or pre-trauma, and the harmony singing is pretty good. What I like about this record are the pop moments, like the beautiful bit that rises up out of the Brinsley Schwarz-like "Asleep with the Fishes," round about the time they sing "I've been hangin' around." Well, they don't exactly play rock and roll but they come as close as many a previous folk-rock band. The decision to record in a simple environment pays off; the sound is warm, uncluttered and fairly beguiling. And they have a good sense of how to arrange, and how to include some sharp licks into what could've been just more folkie strum-strum. I sense some real musical savvy here, and I guess the only thing I have to kick about is the songs themselves--apart from those I mention above, they're probably more memorable as aural artifacts and as pure musical constructions than as songs which give up that verbal or musical hook that would take them over the line.

So, a concept album about not getting enough sunshine in England. Don't visit San Francisco in the summer and expect any more light, though. Come visit Nashville--May's a good month--and we'll show you around. Shoot, you might pick up a few new licks, some mighty nice studios here. And the weather is nice.