Worry not fans of Turin Brakes who are unable to attend tonight’s (15th March) acoustic show at the De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, as the band have not only announced their return with a brand-new studio album ‘Spacehopper’, out 23rd May, but to coincide with the news, they have also shared the lead single of the same name (Listen HERE), plus they have revealed a fresh set of tour dates across the UK + Ireland for November, which includes a gig at Brighton’s Concorde 2 on Friday 14th November. Tour tickets go on sale at 10am, Wednesday 19th March – Details HERE.
Produced by Grammy-winning Guy Massey (with credits such as Kylie Minogue, Ed Sheeran and Spiritualized), ‘Spacehopper’ is the band’s first new music in over three years and marks Turin Brakes’ 10th Studio album, 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 frontman 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. I quite flippantly said at the start we’d be a “10 albums kind of band”. I guess I meant it!”
Along with the album announcement, Turin Brakes also released the title track ‘Spacehopper’ -available everywhere now. With the first taste of the new record their signature warm sound at once feels familiar, with the driving guitars and meticulously layered vocal harmonies evoking a hint of nostalgia, matched in the song’s lyrics, as Knights explains: “I wrote the initial idea when my younger daughters were quite literally bouncing around on the grass in the summer sun on a bright yellow space hopper. No smart phones, just a simple planet-shaped rubber ball with a smiley face, like the last 40 years had all been a weird daydream and it was in fact still 1975. Instead of taking a photo on my phone, I grabbed a guitar and out came the song; hopefully, it captured some of the joy of that moment.”
The tracklisting of ‘Spacehopper’ is:
‘The Message’
‘Pays To Be Paranoid’
‘Spacehopper’
‘Almost’
‘Lullaby’
‘Today’
‘Horizon’
‘Old Habits’
‘Silence And Sirens’
‘Lazy Bones’
‘What’s Underneath’
UK + IRELAND HEADLINE TOUR NOVEMBER 2025 (ON SALE 19 MARCH):
Friday 7th – BELFAST, Empire
Saturday 8th – DUBLIN, Whelan’s
Thursday 13th – SOUTHAMPTON, The Brook
Friday 14th – BRIGHTON, Concorde 2
Saturday 15th – LONDON, Electric Ballroom
Sunday 16th – BRISTOL, The Fleece
Thursday 20th – LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club
Friday 21st – GLASGOW, St Lukes
Saturday 22nd – MANCHESTER, New Century Hall
Sunday 23rd – BIRMINGHAM, O2 Institute 2
Thursday 27th – NORWICH, Epic Studios
Friday 28th – NOTTINGHAM, Metronome
Saturday 29th – EXETER, The Phoenix
Sunday 30th – BOURNEMOUTH, Old Fire Station
Support for the tour will come from Tom Speight.
Turin Brakes Bio:
Turin Brakes, founded by childhood friends Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, is today made up of Knights, Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They released their Mercury-nominated debut ‘The Optimist’ LP in March 2001 and followed it up in 2003 with their most commercially successful album – ‘Ether Song’. Produced by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Supergrass, The Kooks) it hit the Top 5 in the UK Official Album Charts. Arguably more sonically adventurous than their debut it features the Top 5 hit single ‘Pain Killer (Summer Rain)’.
To date, Turin Brakes have racked up seven top 40 singles, six top 40 albums and over a million record sales worldwide.
