Turin Brakes Dark on Fire by: Steve Scully Tue:18-Dec-07 Label: Virgin Year: 2007 WB rating 57 out of 100

The new album by Turin Brakes is characterised by two things: unremarkable, ambulatory alt-rock, and poor word choice. For the latter, look no further than the worst song title of the year, and the worst faux-pun ever created: ‘Bye Pod’.

With Dark on Fire, Turin Brakes have departed from the acoustic roots they developed to great effect on their career-defining The Optimist. The rather daggy duo have consistently made moves to change direction since that album’s success, undermining the desire of their fan base to hear more music in the same vein by incorporating a fuller, electric sound and only dabbling occasionally in the simplicity and grace of their earlier recordings. Dark on Fire sees Turin Brakes showing quite some nerve: while previously compared to Elbow or Starsailor (pre-nauseating dance remixes), now they edge closer and closer to New Wave.

Without doubt, the band’s most likeable aspect is the rather sublime voice of Olly Knights. From the opening track, ‘Last Chance’, Knights’ voice can’t be faulted, but rhythms and predictably dramatic instrumentation weaken the impact that Knights could have. ‘Ghost’ again picks up on these incongruities. Beginning like a poor Bon Jovi song, vocal effects and all, it lumbers along, heavy-handed in terms of rhythm but light-on for any real substance. “I am the ghost/that you need the most,” is one example of many lazy little lyrical turns on Knights’ behalf, as hackneyed rhymes and faux-insightfulness are far too prevalent.

For all this negativity, for all this hatefulness, Dark on Fire does at some points see Turin Brakes exhibiting record-worthy songwriting ability. ‘Something In My Eye’ possesses a gorgeous pop chorus, a guitar riff reminiscent of The Edge himself and tolerable lyricism. Knights’ vocals are superb again, and despite the clichéd rhymes in the verse – ‘hands’ and ‘plans’… -- the chorus lyrics are full of emotive weight: “there’s no doubt about us/time is running out around us.”

The song with the terrible title, ‘Bye Pod’, is, unfortunately for Turin Brakes, their album’s best song. A subtle, well-paced and engaging ballad, the track is constructed around a beautifully-picked ukulele and lightly-strummed acoustic. The lyrics are poignant: “We used to laugh about/Growing old/Yeah, we used to laugh but it’s/Too late now”, piano and drums gradually fill-out this relieving spaciousness. Even Knights’ voice cracks a little with the intensity and emotion, and goes a little husky when he sings: “We’ll write a letter to the government asking why/we poured our lives in nine-to-fives and now we’re dry.”

Everything about ‘Bye Pod’ oozes comfort and skill: the quiet country-inspired harmonies, the way they managed to resist the temptation to build to a roaring crescendo. Instead, with the utmost respect to the song’s honest and touching message, the musicians allow it to float breezily to its conclusion: a final strum of the ukulele. It’s unfortunate that ‘Bye Pod’ is the album’s best track, because the title is so bloody off-putting that I’d be embarrassed to tell someone I like it. Otherwise, it is as close to perfection as the band has come.

It may not be anyone else’s place to tell Turin Brakes what they should be doing, but there’s no doubt in this reviewer’s mind that at some point in their career they took the wrong turn. The progressive tracks on Dark on Fire are uninspiring mimicry at best: the heaviness and ‘rockiness’ overwhelm the sheer glory of Knights’ voice and they are actively denying the melancholy niche that seems to fit them so very well. If ‘Bye Pod’ and ‘Something in My Eye’ are anything to go by, Turin Brakes have much left in the tank, and may very well know where they seem most comfortable. Unfortunately though, Dark on Fire is not the sort of album Turin Brakes are meant to make.