Turin Brakes: The Optimist : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Welcome to a kinder, gentler British indie rock. Is it an evolving movement in the wake of successes from club kids gone folksy (erstwhile William Orbit collaborator Beth Orton), folksters gone ambient (Irish Dylan devotee David Gray), or critically beloved Scottish imps Belle and Sebastian? Whatever. Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian -- the London duo known as Turin Brakes -- clearly subscribe to the sloganeering title their labelmates Kings of Convenience used on a recent album: Quiet is the New Loud. The Brakes' twelve-song debut is by turns haunting, gentle, trippy and comfortably numb (they do show some Pink Floyd -- via Radiohead? -- debts here and there). On tracks like "State of Things" and "By TV Light," there are shades of rootsy Gomez-like jam-etry, too, as the mostly acoustic disc meanders through the Brakes' chill-out break-of-dawn ethos. Lysergic experience is mainly implied ("electric sensation will not stay with us for long"), but it's still somehow clear this disc -- and its subtle samples, percussive nuances and introspective lyrics -- is perfect for comedown listening, headphones, or both. (MARK WOODLIEF - May 1, 2001)