Turin Brakes - The Optimist

Although this British duo draws effectively on early-'70s rock--mainly warm SoCal folk pop, à la America, and shimmery-cool British space glam, à la T. Rex--what makes them distinctive are their modern easy grooves and their uneasy emotional nakedness. "I panic at the quiet times, decisions at the door," sighs vocalist-guitarist Ollie Knights in "The Door," but throughout The Optimist, he and coconspirator and slide guitarist Gale Paridjanian resist the alt-rock urge to bury anxiety in walls of noise. Their debut full-length (comprising five tracks from earlier EPs and seven new originals) is rife with subtle, contemplative moments that often turn lyrically dark ("I'm sick and I'm twisted/ Like a Sunday massacre") or get carried away by cresting rhythms, like the post-breakup lament "State of Things" ("You and me used to be on fire/ There ain't no straight lines in this state of things"). Although Turin Brakes can rock when they care to (here most effectively on "Mind over Money"), their strength comes from exploring the tension in life's deceptively calm shadows.