I was too young to realize exactly what the New Acoustic Movement was back in the late 90s. But now I’m older and more educated on all the subtle nuances different genres have taken in my lifetime. Unfortunately for the artists that spearheaded the New Acoustic Movement – Travis, Starsailor and Damien Rice just to name a few – it became a bit boring once bands like the White Stripes came on the scene, you know, with amps and electric guitars and stuff. Another of those artists who unfortunately fell into the vortex is Turin Brakes, whom just recently released their fifth album, the self-produced Outbursts.
I, being completely new to Turin Brakes, didn’t walk into this review with any expectations. I’d heard their song “Pain Killer” off The Last Kiss soundtrack a couple years ago, a soundtrack that was far better than the film – but like the film, it was bit dreary. And that’s what I found Outbursts to be – dreary.
When I just typed “dreary,” I heard Simon Cowell in my head. Anyway, Outbursts starts out strongly, with the quick-paced folk song “Sea Change,” which I quite liked actually. It’s by far the best song on the album, upbeat and light, which is a bit of a throw-off for the rest of the record, because it isn’t nearly as light as “Sea Change” foreshadows.
That’s not to say that it’s all bad. Every album needs complexity of emotions and tempos, including the more low-key songs – but this, my friends, was the problem with the New Acoustic Movement from the beginning. You can’t really have a successful genre based off of those couple quiet songs on an album.
Outbursts falls into that category. It’s sleepy, and I hate to say that I chose it many a nights to doze off to. It’s one of those albums that you pick songs from to include on a mix as the “in-between” songs.
After “Sea Change,” we get “Mirror” and “Rocket Song,” both of which have this longing sadness to them, which could work together on an album if they were followed by something driving and vigorous. Instead, we get “Paper Heart,” which sounds just like its name, wispy and lovely. After that comes “The Invitation,” heavy and – I need to think of another adjective rather than dreary. But you see my point. The one song that does break the monotony for 3:39 is track 7, “Apocolips,” which is considerably more dynamic than any of the five songs preceding it, and employs Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian’s wonderful harmonies. Then, for the last five songs, we fall again into the sleepy territory, and the last track especially, “Outbursts” leaves so much emptiness. It feels like there needs to be one more song after, or a secret track, like “syke! You thought we were finished! Haha, fooled you!” Nope, it is the last track, and a little anticlimactic, at that.
It sounds like I’m being completely negative. I don’t mean to be, because the songs by themselves are just good enough to not completely dismiss Turin Brakes just yet, but all the songs mushed together in one album doesn’t really work. Too much sap and not enough spark. That’s what Outbursts is missing! There’s no stand-out great track, and most of the album sounds like filler, which would make any listener apathetic.
The one saving grace that Outbursts has is that Knights and Paridjanian produced it themselves. Any sort of over-production would have made the down-ness of the album more obvious. The album is produced beautifully and has just the right amount of orchestration to the acoustic guitars that keeps it from being cliché. Outbursts is completely aware of what it is, and it’s low key and acoustic. It doesn’t try to be bigger than it is, which is what I do like about it. I guess I just prefer a bit more energy and variety in an album.
Track Listing:
1. Sea Change
2. Mirror
3. Rocket Song
4. Paper Heart
5. The Invitation
6. Will Power
7. Apocolips
8. Embryos
9. Never Stops
10. The Letting Down
11. Radio Silence
12. Outbursts
Twin Tigers, psychedelic rockers from Georgia, will be on tour this month, playing alongside Gift Horse and the Hold Steady as well as headlining their own gigs.
