Brakes - Touchdown

We live in serious times. The planet is blighted by man-made crises and force-of-nature catastrophes, the economy is scrabbling around in the gutter, and who knows what will be coming round the corner next. Thank heavens, then, for Brakes. Whilst so many of their indie contemporaries are assuming a pose of po-faced contemplation, or coming on like some nutter with an ‘End of Days’ sandwich board, the Brighton group are willing to crack the gloomy canopy with flashes of wit and humour.

‘Touchdown’ is seriously good fun, stomping from beginning to end like a toddler having a petulant fit. ‘Two Shocks’ is as forthright and bracing as the title suggests, the uppity punk rhythms fairly socking you in the chops whilst a guitar needles relentlessly. The extraterrestrial love affair barminess of ‘Don’t Take Me To Space (Man)’ keeps the serotonin surging: “I don’t care that this world’s Masonic, I got a true love keeping me on it,” hollers frontman Eamon Hamilton as the guitars stampede.

On a record that rarely draws breath, ‘Red Rag’ takes the lung-busting crown, its hell for leather one minute and 30 seconds sounding like something that slipped out of the folds of Future Of The Left’s wallet. Further short, sharp jabs come with ‘Ancient Mysteries’ and the brash assault of ‘Hey Hey’.

They take their foot off the pedal marked Road Runner for the folk-rock swoon of ‘Worry About It Later’, before the brisk rhythms, beefy guitars and lyrical roll call of ‘Crush On You’ up the ante once again. Apparently inspired by Hamilton’s mistreatment at the hands of his bank, ‘Why Tell The Truth (When It’s Easier To Lie)’ gears up from a gentle strum before exploding into indignant life: “Don’t let them cut your wings before you’ve learned to fly,” he roars.

Meanwhile the upbeat countrified jangle and joyous beat of ‘Eternal Return’ looks to make a mockery of its opening lyrical gambit that “Every life I seem to live has been full of pain and suffering / Every road that I’ve been down has been full of stones and nails”. A sense of defiance and solidarity in the face of adversity is apparent in the bright, Teenage Fanclub stylings of ‘Do You Feel The Same?’.

Only on the final ‘Leaving England’ does a feeling of weariness emerge, the singer intoning how he must go and “see what I can find”. Oh, and do hang around for the hidden track ‘First Dance’, a beautiful pop-rock love song, the sun-dappled stream of the melody coursing strong. As you’ve probably guessed, Hamilton wrote it as the first dance song for his wedding last year.

And that really is that. They’ve traded in a little of the punk-rock snarl and quick-to-anger attitude and rhetoric of years gone by, but by way of consolation Brakes give us their most melodic and affecting album to date. Seems like a fair deal to me.

7/10