Turin Brakes – Dark On Fire (2007)

I got to know Turin Brakes at the time of the release of their second album Ether Song. It quickly became one of my favourite bands and I was especially fond of the debut album Optimist LP. On the first album, and to some extent on the second album, the sounds were mainly acoustic and quite organic. On the third album, they started taking in much more instruments and the sound became more polished. Dark on Fire is their fourth album and it sounds even glossier than the earlier albums, but in terms of songwriting I think this album is excellent. If you strip the songs to their essentials, there are some super melodies and touching lyrics. I've always really liked the album cover. The flame in the dark is a powerful image that is not easily forgotten. After this album I forget the band for some years, until I then discovered them again later on.



I remember listening to Turin Brakes' album that came out after Dark on Fire and I remember being slightly disappointed but also didn't really give a chance to the songs, since I didn't really listen to earlier Turin Brakes that much anymore anyway. Then, years later, I found out that Turin Brakes was playing a gig here in London at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. My nostalgia woke up and I felt like I really wanted to see them live at least once. I wasn't expecting much from the gig, but it turned out to be excellent. They played lots of old songs and they put up a really good performance. That also made me listen to their newest album at the time and it turned out it was quite good as well. Even though I have not bought that album, that gig restored my faith in Turin Brakes.

The album starts with laser-like synth sounds in the song Last Chance that fully starts with a strummed acoustic guitar. This song has a great dark feel to it and the melody is true hit material. I feel like this song sounds a lot like the Swedish band Kent a couple of years earlier. Ghost has a lot more electric sounds and thus it is further apart from the early albums, but the groovy rock music still sounds fairly good, so I'm not complaining. Something In My Eye is almost like a power ballad with strong guitar riffs, strongly pumping bass line and drum rhythms. Then again, it really doesn't fall for cheesiness that it could with these spices. Stalker is another indie rock song with sharp electric guitars. It sounds a bit like OAR, but in a good way, since the guitars are excellently played. Other Side is one of the songs that sounds more like the earlier albums with it's mainly acoustic guitars and slow nightly feel to it. Olly Knights' vocals really work to their advantage in songs like this. The title-track Dark on Fire also sounds amazing with it's creeping and dark melodies. Real Life returns to the AOR sounds. There's some real playfulness in the guitars in this song, which is fun to listen to. For the Fire has some jazzier elements and while the song itself is very straightforward, the sounds give it a different feel to the rest of the album. The chorus is very catchy. Timewaster is a real indie rock hit song with fast guitar riffs and pounding rhythm. Bye Pod is one of my all time favourite tracks from Turin Brakes. It's just one of those ballads that are so beautiful they'll give you goosebumps with every listen. The melody is excellent, vocal harmonies weepingly good and the guitars work perfectly together. Here Comes the Moon sounds again a bit more like the earlier albums with its more minimalistic sound world. New Star ends the album in minimalistic acoustic ballad that shows that Turin Brakes is still capable of impressing with just the minimal instrumentation.

This is interesting. Turin Brakes was for a long time one of my favourite bands, but I've still not seen probably any of their music videos before. The video for the title track Dark on Fire shows a story of kids playing in a forest in the autumn. They're basically re-enacting some Western films they've seen which is a bit questionable from today's perspective. But the colours in the video are really beautiful. In the end everyone else except this one girl are knocked down on the ground as if some distant force meddles with their playing.

I really like Turin Brakes' melodies and their songwriting in general, but what really makes this band special is Olly Knights' amazing vocals. He has one of those voices you could recognise just anywhere and it can really move you just with the beauty of the sound. Dark on Fire is not the best album by Turin Brakes, but there are enough great songs on it to make it absolutely worth listening to. And also, if you get a chance, please go and see them live, it's definitely worth it.

Listen to the album on Spotify.