Part of their record shop tour, this one happened on the actual launch day for the new album: Friday, May 23rd.
Generally, we are all about the new and exciting at Reading Indie Life. There is, though, the occasional space for a bit of nostalgia. ‘Underdog (Save Me)’ was one of those tracks that didn’t set the charts alight (it scaped number 39) but made a big impression on those who liked a bit of decent guitar music in 2001. Turin Brakes debut album, The Optimist, was incredibly well regarded. Whilst they have never exactly captured the zeitgeist in the years since then, they have turned out consistently high-quality music over a distinguished career, and the new album is another fine body of work.
Tonight is a stripped back session followed by a signing, for those who enjoy that sort of thing. It is straight into the new album, starting with ‘Pays To Be Paranoid.’ It has a bit more bite than some of their tracks. ‘Spacehopper’ was the album title track and one of the best songs on the album. There are a lot of little insights between tracks.
‘Old Habits’ slows things down, an acoustic guitar strummer. ‘The Message’ sounds great, uptempo pop. Turin Brakes do excellent guitar driven pop music when they put their mind to it. There is a strong vein of nostalgia for youthful days on the new album. The chat is less nostalgic and more focused on the now and the future. Enjoying being together on the road again. There is a discussion about preppers, bassist Eddie Myer seems to come down on the side that it is very sensible preparing for armageddon in the current climate. To be honest, I can’t disagree with him.
Having gone through a decent chunk of the new album (apparently they are still working out how to perform a few of the tracks live), there is time for some old classics. The acoustic ‘Fishing For a Dream’ sounds great. ‘Painkiller (Summer Rain)’ is greeted rapturously. That aforementioned number 39 single gets another airing and it still sounds brilliant. There is room for a couple of requests, not everyone’s picks can get played but a percentage of the audienc are left even happier than they were a few minutes before. It is all over too soon. Turin Brakes are the musical equivalent of a warm blanket on a Winter’s day, comforting and reassuring. Familar, yet still very useful. They are back out on tour later on in the year and going into next year.
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