aaamusic | On 12, Jun 2012

Turnpike Glow are a curious little indie four-piece. They were formed in Italy by Schiena and La Mela, and decided to move to London (where they completed their lineup) – perhaps realising that their indie-pop sound has quite a respectably and bulging scene here in the UK.

‘Inflatable Optimism’ is Turnpike Glow’s debut EP (out June 11th), and features four tracks of incredibly infectious indie, which consist of catchy, upbeat melodies overlying raw, simplistic indie-rock. Opener (and highlight) ‘No More Dancing’ has a shoegazing vibe, with its noisy guitar grit propelling sunny, faded vocals, while ‘1986’ is more straight-head (and middle-of-the-road) indie-rock, with poppy keys and a very British jangle. ‘Marie’ is more along the lines of ‘1986’, but with a tint of The Maccabees in the vocal harmony, and the highly memorable closer ‘The Turn, The Pike And The Glow’ has a quiet, almost psychedelic Britpop sensibility, with bouncy, Franz Ferdinand drums and a snarly vocal performance.

The production – mixed by Dave Newfield (Broken Social Scene, Los Campesinos) – is actually spot-on for an indie band of this sort, with the guitars retaining a fuzziness that most (modern) indie-pop bands tend to lose when recording, and the vocals don’t dominate the mix, as many Britpop bands feature. A very solid effort from Turnpike Glow. All they need is a little more variation, and a little more instrumental impact. A promising young band…

★★★★★

Clive Rozario