Turin Brakes — We Were Here (2013) |

Turin Brakes — We Were Here
♣ British indie duo that makes melodic, folk-inflected rock.
Formed: 1999 in Balham, London, England
Location: Balham, London, England
Album release: September 30th, 2013
Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
Duration: 54:55
Tracks:
01. Time And Money 3:48
02. We Were Here 3:41
03. Dear Dad 4:02
04. Blindsided Again 5:51
05. Part Of The World 4:01
06. Stop The World 4:26
07. Guess You Heard 4:37
08. No Mercy 5:58
09. Sleeper 4:50
10. Inbetween 4:43
11. Erase Everything 4:16
12. Goodbye 4:42
♣ All words by Paul Scott-Bates
Members:
♣ Olly Knights
♣ Gale Paridjanian
♣ Rob Allum
♣ Eddie Myer
Notes: Balham is a neighbourhood of South West London, England, and is part of the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Description:
♣ Turin Brakes release a new album, We Were Here, through Cooking Vinyl on Monday 30th September. The album is preceded by a single, Time and Money, released one week earlier on September 23rd. Having recently toured Australia, the band announce twenty two shows in October and November, including a performance at London s Shepherds Bush Empire on the 20th November. We Were Here, the bands sixth album, was recorded at Rockfield Studios and engineered and mixed by Ali Staton (Rufus Wainwright / Madonna / Tricky) and produced by Turin Brakes and Ali Staton.
Website: http://www.turinbrakes.com/splash/tbindex.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/turinbrakes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turinbrakes
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DVe0MN5rrE
________________________________________________________________
REVIEW
By Paul Scott-Bates; Score: 9/10
♣ Turin Brakes release their first album studio album in three years. Louder Than War’s Paul Scott-Bates was keen to listen.
♣ When I first met my wife, she professed a fondness for Walsall’s finest, The Wonder Stuff. I wasn’t over familiar with their back catalogue and asked what they sounded like. She said they “sounded like The Wonder Stuff”, and I knew exactly what she meant. The same can be said of Turin Brakes such is the sound and style that they have made their own, but, let’s just say imagine Pink Floyd with the occasional guest appearance by George Harrison and you may not be far wrong.
♣ You’ll know doubt know them from 2001’s ‘The Optimist’ album, or, 2003’s hit single ‘Painkiller’ and it’s probably a shame that you may know little else about them. ♣ ‘We Were Here’ from London duo Olly Nights and Gale Paridjanian is an absolute triumph in perfect, concise songwriting and should be contender for one of the years finest releases.
♣ Starting the proceedings with lead single ‘Time And Money’, a well written, catchy and melodious number, the scene is set for an album of twelve tracks, each one as good as its predecessor, and each one equally as memorable. To be honest, you’d be excused for thinking that this was a Best Of compilation should you be a stranger to their work. The title track, and its clear acoustics, is a fine example in the art of songwriting, and, its immediate familiarity makes the track instantly enjoyable. You’ll be humming it long after it’s finished.
♣ The production of the album is sparkling, and the clarity of the music is marvellous, and, Ali Staton must be congratulated for his input. ‘Sleeper’ has definite nods to the early 70s, and rocks like the best of them, and, ‘Blindsided Again’ perhaps looks in the direction of The Beatles’ ‘The Long And Winding Road’.
♣ It’s a pure delight to hear an album of such lasting quality, and let’s hope that final track ‘Goodbye’ is merely a title and not a threat.
Fortaken: http://louderthanwar.com/
________________________________________________________________
REVIEW
BY ROB MCNAMARA / ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 AT 12:05 PM /
♣ The early ’00s were personified by the kind of MOR rock that still filters through the air in waiting rooms and elevators the world over. It was a kind of corporate friendly genre that Creation Records boss Alan McGee referred to as “bedwetters’” music in his appraisal of 2000′s Mercury Award nominations for The Guardian.
♣ The main target of McGee’s vitriol were of course, Coldplay. The man who signed Oasis when they were playing pub gigs bemoaned the lack of any real characters with attitude on the music scene in his article. “If Coldplay have an attitude about anything, it’s passing their A-levels,” he wrote.
♣ While McGee’s comments were harsh on Coldplay, they were probably true of what the music industry deemed marketable as ‘alternative’ at the time. However, there were still bands who shone, briefly yet brightly, and went on to make the decade a good one musically. Turin Brakes and their gritty acoustic campfire laments were one.
♣ The indie-folk duo had a brief stint in the limelight circa 2001—2 with The Optimist LP and Ether Song — the album that spawned the feelgood tune ‘Pain Killer (Summer Rain)’, which remains their only top 10 hit to date. 12 years and four studio albums later, not much has changed musically in the world of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian. They still make luminous, alluring and thoughtful acoustic pop and on ‘We Were Here’ the formula doesn’t divert too much from the usual English folk and Americana.
♣ While extending the boundaries of sonic experimentation in sound may be beyond their remit, there is enough joyous harmony and jollification that the Starsailor and Embrace comparisons can be left well alone. Single Time and Money and the title-track recall Matt Deighton’s long-forgotten Bench Connection and are dressed with Knight’s nasal, yet pleasing tones.
♣ Dear Dad is resplendent in prominent Ron Burgundy-esque jazz flute, while Blindsided Again and In-Between suggest someone has been listening to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. Part of the World and No Mercy are meandering — if inoffensive and heartfelt — identikit folk songs but Guess You Heard briefly hints at a lingering debt to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
♣ Interestingly, Erase Everything may be what Radiohead would sound like should they ever do a full acoustic tour. Then again, it may not. Actually, it probably isn’t at all, but it could be if Thom Yorke starts meditating and reading self-help books.
♣ The music critics will pick manholes in this work as essentially there is nothing new here to report on. No-one’s mind is going to be blown by this record but it is a likeable listen. It is a very Turin Brakes sounding album by a band that just happen to be called Turin Brakes. To be fair, there isn’t much wrong with that as they are very good at filling the space which they inhabit with their bittersweet, breezy and harmonic folk-pop. Even Alan McGee should enjoy this one.
Fortaken: http://www.goldenplec.com/
Discography:
Albums:
• 2001 — The Optimist LP — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2003 — Ether Song — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2005 — JackInABox — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2005 — Live at the Palladium — Source/Astralwerks (Digital download)
• 2007 — Dark on Fire — Source/Astralwerks CD
• 2010 — Outbursts — Cooking Vinyl CD
• 2011 — The Optimist Live — Record Label CD
• 2013 — We Were Here — Cooking Vinyl
Compilation albums:
• 2009 — Bottled At Source — The Best Of The Source Years — Source/Astralwerks CD
Mix albums:
• 2004 — Late Night Tales: Turin Brakes — Source/Azuli Records CD/LP
EPs:
• 1999 — The Door EP — Anvil 7"/CD
• 2000 — The State of Things EP — Source 7"/CD
• 2000 — Fight or Flight — Source 7"/CD
• 2005 — NapsterLive — Napster (Digital download)
• 2005 — The Red Moon EP — Source 7"/CD
• 2007 — Something Out Of Nothing EP — Source CD
• 2010 — Everybody Knows Everyday's A Black Wicked Game — The Complete ATOMIC CD (covers ep)
• 2011 — Xerox — The Complete ATOMIC CD (covers ep with 1 new original track)
________________________________________________________________
Turin Brakes — We Were Here (2013) |
Turin Brakes — We Were Here
♣ British indie duo that makes melodic, folk-inflected rock.
Formed: 1999 in Balham, London, England
Location: Balham, London, England
Album release: September 30th, 2013
Record Label: Cooking Vinyl
Duration: 54:55
Tracks:
01. Time And Money 3:48
02. We Were Here 3:41
03. Dear Dad 4:02
04. Blindsided Again 5:51
05. Part Of The World 4:01
06. Stop The World 4:26
07. Guess You Heard 4:37
08. No Mercy 5:58
09. Sleeper 4:50
10. Inbetween 4:43
11. Erase Everything 4:16
12. Goodbye 4:42
♣ All words by Paul Scott-Bates
Members:
♣ Olly Knights
♣ Gale Paridjanian
♣ Rob Allum
♣ Eddie Myer
Notes: Balham is a neighbourhood of South West London, England, and is part of the London Borough of Wandsworth.
Description:
♣ Turin Brakes release a new album, We Were Here, through Cooking Vinyl on Monday 30th September. The album is preceded by a single, Time and Money, released one week earlier on September 23rd. Having recently toured Australia, the band announce twenty two shows in October and November, including a performance at London s Shepherds Bush Empire on the 20th November. We Were Here, the bands sixth album, was recorded at Rockfield Studios and engineered and mixed by Ali Staton (Rufus Wainwright / Madonna / Tricky) and produced by Turin Brakes and Ali Staton.
Website: http://www.turinbrakes.com/splash/tbindex.html
Twitter: https://twitter.com/turinbrakes
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/turinbrakes
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DVe0MN5rrE
________________________________________________________________
REVIEW
By Paul Scott-Bates; Score: 9/10
♣ Turin Brakes release their first album studio album in three years. Louder Than War’s Paul Scott-Bates was keen to listen.
♣ When I first met my wife, she professed a fondness for Walsall’s finest, The Wonder Stuff. I wasn’t over familiar with their back catalogue and asked what they sounded like. She said they “sounded like The Wonder Stuff”, and I knew exactly what she meant. The same can be said of Turin Brakes such is the sound and style that they have made their own, but, let’s just say imagine Pink Floyd with the occasional guest appearance by George Harrison and you may not be far wrong.
♣ You’ll know doubt know them from 2001’s ‘The Optimist’ album, or, 2003’s hit single ‘Painkiller’ and it’s probably a shame that you may know little else about them. ♣ ‘We Were Here’ from London duo Olly Nights and Gale Paridjanian is an absolute triumph in perfect, concise songwriting and should be contender for one of the years finest releases.
♣ Starting the proceedings with lead single ‘Time And Money’, a well written, catchy and melodious number, the scene is set for an album of twelve tracks, each one as good as its predecessor, and each one equally as memorable. To be honest, you’d be excused for thinking that this was a Best Of compilation should you be a stranger to their work. The title track, and its clear acoustics, is a fine example in the art of songwriting, and, its immediate familiarity makes the track instantly enjoyable. You’ll be humming it long after it’s finished.
♣ The production of the album is sparkling, and the clarity of the music is marvellous, and, Ali Staton must be congratulated for his input. ‘Sleeper’ has definite nods to the early 70s, and rocks like the best of them, and, ‘Blindsided Again’ perhaps looks in the direction of The Beatles’ ‘The Long And Winding Road’.
♣ It’s a pure delight to hear an album of such lasting quality, and let’s hope that final track ‘Goodbye’ is merely a title and not a threat.
Fortaken: http://louderthanwar.com/
________________________________________________________________
REVIEW
BY ROB MCNAMARA / ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2013 AT 12:05 PM /
♣ The early ’00s were personified by the kind of MOR rock that still filters through the air in waiting rooms and elevators the world over. It was a kind of corporate friendly genre that Creation Records boss Alan McGee referred to as “bedwetters’” music in his appraisal of 2000′s Mercury Award nominations for The Guardian.
♣ The main target of McGee’s vitriol were of course, Coldplay. The man who signed Oasis when they were playing pub gigs bemoaned the lack of any real characters with attitude on the music scene in his article. “If Coldplay have an attitude about anything, it’s passing their A-levels,” he wrote.
♣ While McGee’s comments were harsh on Coldplay, they were probably true of what the music industry deemed marketable as ‘alternative’ at the time. However, there were still bands who shone, briefly yet brightly, and went on to make the decade a good one musically. Turin Brakes and their gritty acoustic campfire laments were one.
♣ The indie-folk duo had a brief stint in the limelight circa 2001—2 with The Optimist LP and Ether Song — the album that spawned the feelgood tune ‘Pain Killer (Summer Rain)’, which remains their only top 10 hit to date. 12 years and four studio albums later, not much has changed musically in the world of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian. They still make luminous, alluring and thoughtful acoustic pop and on ‘We Were Here’ the formula doesn’t divert too much from the usual English folk and Americana.
♣ While extending the boundaries of sonic experimentation in sound may be beyond their remit, there is enough joyous harmony and jollification that the Starsailor and Embrace comparisons can be left well alone. Single Time and Money and the title-track recall Matt Deighton’s long-forgotten Bench Connection and are dressed with Knight’s nasal, yet pleasing tones.
♣ Dear Dad is resplendent in prominent Ron Burgundy-esque jazz flute, while Blindsided Again and In-Between suggest someone has been listening to George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. Part of the World and No Mercy are meandering — if inoffensive and heartfelt — identikit folk songs but Guess You Heard briefly hints at a lingering debt to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
♣ Interestingly, Erase Everything may be what Radiohead would sound like should they ever do a full acoustic tour. Then again, it may not. Actually, it probably isn’t at all, but it could be if Thom Yorke starts meditating and reading self-help books.
♣ The music critics will pick manholes in this work as essentially there is nothing new here to report on. No-one’s mind is going to be blown by this record but it is a likeable listen. It is a very Turin Brakes sounding album by a band that just happen to be called Turin Brakes. To be fair, there isn’t much wrong with that as they are very good at filling the space which they inhabit with their bittersweet, breezy and harmonic folk-pop. Even Alan McGee should enjoy this one.
Fortaken: http://www.goldenplec.com/
Discography:
Albums:
• 2001 — The Optimist LP — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2003 — Ether Song — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2005 — JackInABox — Source/Astralwerks CD/LP
• 2005 — Live at the Palladium — Source/Astralwerks (Digital download)
• 2007 — Dark on Fire — Source/Astralwerks CD
• 2010 — Outbursts — Cooking Vinyl CD
• 2011 — The Optimist Live — Record Label CD
• 2013 — We Were Here — Cooking Vinyl
Compilation albums:
• 2009 — Bottled At Source — The Best Of The Source Years — Source/Astralwerks CD
Mix albums:
• 2004 — Late Night Tales: Turin Brakes — Source/Azuli Records CD/LP
EPs:
• 1999 — The Door EP — Anvil 7"/CD
• 2000 — The State of Things EP — Source 7"/CD
• 2000 — Fight or Flight — Source 7"/CD
• 2005 — NapsterLive — Napster (Digital download)
• 2005 — The Red Moon EP — Source 7"/CD
• 2007 — Something Out Of Nothing EP — Source CD
• 2010 — Everybody Knows Everyday's A Black Wicked Game — The Complete ATOMIC CD (covers ep)
• 2011 — Xerox — The Complete ATOMIC CD (covers ep with 1 new original track)
________________________________________________________________