Turin Brakes are now a 10-album-band. Last Friday Spacehopper landed on earth and we all could listen to a set of 11 new Turin Brakes tunes. While I’ll save my official review for when my physical copies finally arrive (I want to hold the album in my hands first, I’m old-fashioned I guess), it’s nice to see fans and media reacting to it online.
So far, the reviews appear to be positive, varying from being a good to a great Turin Brakes album. One outlet here in the Netherlands even gave it 5 stars, which says (translation by me):
Spacehopper deserves five stars because it is a mature, warm and honest album full of strong, timeless songs. The subtle production and personal lyrics make it accessible and profound. Turin Brakes proves that they are still relevant and inspiring after 24 years.
Now I’m still gathering my thoughts and preparing the Ether Site review, but I think calling the production ‘subtle’ is interesting. For me it’s not subtle at all, I think this is an album that jumps around with big gestures. In that way I do understand the title Spacehopper better everyday. The production screams ‘pop polish’ to me and it works really well on a song with a good flow like Horizon or Lullaby. I’m really hoping for some acoustic (live) versions to surface soon – either recorded by fans at the instore shows or official ones recorded by the band) because it might show a different side of these songs. Actually I’m really curious what songs will make it into the setlist for the Spacehopper tour. Knowing Turin Brakes, we’ll still get plenty of old favourites but I’m hoping – like Olly said in the XS Noize podcast – we’ll get at least half the album into the tour. And besides the obvious epic What’s Underneath and the advance tracks we got, I’m hoping for songs like Today, Horizon or Lullaby to make it into the shows too.
That might be giving away that I like this album haha, despite it being very different than what Maurice and I were predicting in our Song of the Year stream earlier this year. And it’s also very different to the music I listen to these days. It’s already the album I’ve listen to most this year, surpassing other high rotation records from artists like Bon Iver and Men I Trust. And there’s much more to say and discuss about this album. The band said they went out to Konk Studios to try and capture their live energy and I think the results are interesting to discuss further. Maurice and I are hoping to plan a live online hangout in the next few weeks to discuss this together with you. More news on this when we find a date we both can meet up.
For now I’m really curious in what tunes on Spacehopper you like best. What do you make of the album? And what songs you would like to hear live or in acoustic versions as soon as possible. 🙂 Also, get in touch if you capture any video footage at instores last weekend or during next weekend’s shows. I can share it on Ether Site’s YouTube channel if you want! 🙂
Hi all TB fans,
I checked out the streaming version of the new album and again they did it, its a great album with diverse songs on it. I lovef it from the 1st time. And like Stefan, I want to have the vinyl version too. Today I checked it at the store in my town Den Haag and O was told it Will arriveert this week, I can’t wait.
Cheers Hans (TB fan since 2001)
I can’t stop listening and am on 20+ plays so far!
Early favourites are What’s Underneath, Today and Pays To Be Paranoid but in typical TB style, there isn’t a weak track on the album. All tracks have been earworms at some point in the last week.
I’m still waiting on my vinyl too but did meet the boys and pick up a signed CD at this week’s instore at Banquet Records. Can’t wait for the tour later this year ❤️