Turin Brakes - JackInABox

I'll tell you what I was doing the first two times I listened all the way through to the latest Turin Brakes record – not because I think you'll find the intricacies of my daily life riveting but because I think it will give a pretty good indication of the vibe on JackInABox: It was Sunday morning, and I was doing laundry, sipping coffee, reading and enjoying having a cat in my lap. So no, this isn't hyper, get-off-your-ass-and-shake Britpop. This is, even on the more rockin songs ("Red Moon," "Asleep With The Fireflies"), a very relaxed, chilled out, almost folksy record. Particularly on tracks like "They Can't Buy The Sunshine," the production is very pure. You can hear the pick just grazing guitar strings, giving it a really organic feel. Perhaps the whole "organic" thing comes from the fact that on this, the third release from the former choirboys and childhood chums (Ollie Knights and Gale Paridjanian), the duo decided to set up shop in their own studio, a converted stable in Brighton... hmmm. Something to think about. Overall, I find myself more drawn to the music and sound of the songs and not paying that much attention to the lyrics, but one track that could have stood for a little more lyrical exploration is the title track. At first listen, this was my favorite song on the disc, but after listening to it a few times over, it's just completely repetitious. They say the same verse and chorus over and over and over for the duration of the song. Now, sometimes this works (see "I Wanna Be Adored" by The Stone Roses), but more often than not, it takes what could have been a really good song and makes it slightly disappointing. Overall, JackInABox ends up as a collection of lovely, fragile songs with harmonies and melodies that will have you humming and nodding lazily along no matter what day of the week it might be. But it falls just a bit short of having me fully engaged. [www.turinbrakes.com]