Turin Brakes reignite with tenth studio album ‘spacehopper’

With seven top 40 singles, six top 40 albums and over a million record sales worldwide, Turin Brakes return with a brand-new record - Spacehopper out now via Cooking Vinyl.  Produced by the band alongside Grammy-winning Guy Massey (with credits such as Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran and Spiritualized), Spacehopper is their first new music in over three years and marks the 10th studio album from Turin Brakes, a big milestone for a band who released their debut album over 24 years ago - The Mercury Prize nominated The Optimist LP which catapulted them into the mainstream and achieved Gold status in the UK. They are a band that understands the art of longevity and Spacehopper promises to be a worthy edition to a rich and sonically diverse catalogue of albums, finding the South London 4-piece in a reflective mood…  

“We deliberately went back to Konk Studios where we made The Optimist LP, having stayed away for 25 years,” says Olly Knights. “In some ways to connect to the source but also to be who we are now in that amazing room. It felt like some deep invisible forces were being moved around. The new record is totally its own thing; there are little nods to the debut, but it’s a different beast. It can never be as simple and perfect as the debut, so we didn’t try; we backed ourselves.”  

“We honestly don’t normally get self-reflective but the whole album 10 thing definitely made us want to play with everything that throws up. The dreams, what worked out, what didn’t, the regrets, the nice surprises… It just seemed like a good moment to admit we’re in on our own legacy in a way.” 

Labelled in the beginning as a band of the early 2000s’ ‘New Acoustic Movement’, Turin Brakes have continued to evolve beyond their formative folk-rock/guitar-pop glory without totally abandoning the music that made them - doing so has given them a loyal fanbase which continues to grow to this day. With something for listeners both old and new, Spacehopper fittingly marks the start of a new chapter for Turin Brakes, one that’s been 10 albums in the making.