Review Summary: Turboweekend return with an excellent, albeit somewhat less exciting third album.
Turboweekend really knew how to get the fists pumping and the feet tapping. The Danish rock trio (now a quartet) has maintained a catalogue of consistently fun electronic-based alternative rock and synth pop songs since the release of their 2007 debut,
Night Shift. Tracks such as “Not a DJ” and “Something or Nothing” have enough energy to lift a large group of people sitting around and doing nothing off of their asses and dancing as though it was a new year’s celebration, while the more alt rocky tunes like “Sweet Jezebel” and “Shadow Sound” prove Turboweekend to be an enjoyable listen for the typical Radiohead lover. The band can also have the tendency to tilt heads and raise questions. For instance, not often is it that an alt rock band (or any rock band, for that matter) chooses to remain exempt of a guitarist and rely solely on the bassist for the string aspect of the music. Now, Turboweekend return with an excellent, albeit somewhat less exciting third album,
Fault Lines.
Now, I say that the band “knew how to get the fists pumping” as opposed to saying “know how to” because
Fault Lines lacks a lot of a certain element that made them so much fun to listen to on their first two records: the electronic half of their music. With
Fault Lines, Turboweekend bid farewell to the synth pop elements clearly audible on prior releases and settle in with a newfound pop rock sound. The album’s lone single “On My Side” perfectly encapsulates the new style with its bouncy keyboards and pretentious falsettos. “Douglas” provides a steady 80s pop beat throughout the song while also including a more modern melody. The transition between styles was not necessarily unexpected, however. The group’s previous offering,
Ghost of a Chance, revolves less around use of synthesizers and is more focused on serving as a pop rock-oriented album. Interestingly enough, various sections of
Fault Lines do not relate to anything the band has covered thus far. Take “Boulevard,” for example: nothing about this song resembles what Turboweekend stands for as far as the majority of their music goes. The song is built off of a rather melancholic melody and composed majorly of orchestral string instruments. Interesting indeed, yet also quite strange.
Luckily, no matter what direction Turboweekend heads in over the course of their musical evolution, one thing will remain the same: Silas Bjerregaard. If any of you have heard this man’s voice before, you already know that he was born to perform. Silas is probably the band’s most noteworthy highlight, as he has always incorporated his voice into the music in such a way that makes it twice as enjoyable as normal. Whether they’re seamlessly calm as heard on “You’re the Cure” or powerful and thrilling on tracks such as “Fire of the Stampede,” the vocals rarely cease to constantly impress. It’s unfortunate that such an outstanding vocal performance is dragged down by somewhat silly lyrics. “Rubicon” finds Silas in his most passionate state on
Fault Lines while singing lines such as “I can burn bridges for you, burn anything you needed me to / I can sail into the blue, turn my back on a kingdom for you,” a somewhat clichéd concept that is repeated almost as much as every other lyric in the song. If that were not already enough, the rhymes used throughout the album are strikingly obvious. Lines such as “at the end of such a perfect
day, it’s hard to understand you have to go
away” and “I forgot to tell you all of
this when you still were mine to
kiss,” both from the closing track “I Forgot,” a song flooded with forced rhymes, will likely cause listeners to feel slightly awkward due to how noticeable and constant the patterns appear throughout the record.
Regardless of the lingering issue concerning the lyrics at various points throughout the album,
Fault Lines really is a great album. Despite the fact that it is a rather frontloaded album with the majority of the exciting tracks taking place during the first half,
Fault Lines proves itself a pleasant listen from start to finish. Songs such as “Neverending,” a song that’s intro could easily be mistaken as the intro of the next big Coldplay song, are perfect for anybody looking for an easy, melodic number. Props to Turboweekend for continuing to release solid material throughout the stages of their ever-evolving style. The biggest question remains unanswered, however: will this affect the future of their music in a way that will find them sounding completely unoriginal? Let’s hope not.
Highlights:
Good Morning, It's Tomorrow
Neverending
Douglas
