Turin Brakes is an English band comprising original duo of Olly Knights and… Read Full Bio ↴Turin Brakes is an English band comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. Hailing from Balham, London, they had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song "Painkiller (Summer Rain)" on Cooking Vinyl.

Turin Brakes has been compared to many of the New Acoustic Movement's bands spawned in the late 90s such as Elbow, Starsailor, I Am Kloot (who were a support band for Turin Brakes on their Ether Song tour) and the Norwegian band the Kings of Convenience.

Their debut album "The Optimist LP" (2001) was nominated for the Mercury Prize that same year. In 2003 "Ether Song" got to #3 in the UK album charts and spawned a Top 5 single "Pain Killer". Further commercial success was not achieved. In 2005 "JackInABox" meant some sort of return to the first album, but this time with more production and a more diverse sound. Again the critics loved it, but the buying public seemed not to. It got to no. 9 in its first week (without a hit single - "Fishing For A Dream" got to #35), but had no further commercial success. This might have been the effect of the decision by the band and the record company to take the slow path (doing just a short UK tour and not doing as much promotion as they used to), so that Olly Knights (the singer) could also focus on his new family life.

In the summer of 2005 the boys toured the USA and Canada, followed by an acoustic tour taking the band to Germany, The Netherlands and Italy. 2005 ended with a longer acoustic UK tour, of which the closing night in the Palladium in London was recorded and released as a download only live album the day after. The album sold quite well on iTunes, riding the top of the download charts in several countries.

The band spent the first half of 2006 writing new songs, occasionally performing both new and old work at small gigs across the UK. The band did an intimate tour in November 2006 to try out new material. In January 2007 the band entered a small studio in London to record their 4th album with producer Ethan Johns. After three weeks the band took a break (on January 29th Gale's wife gave birth to a daughter), but the sessions were resumed several weeks later in a bigger studio (also in London). On the last day of March 2007 the band announced that they had finished the recording sessions, and recorded 17 songs.

Their 2007 album, "Dark on Fire", was preceded by a download-only single "Stalker".

The band released their 5th studio album in March 2010 titled "Outbursts".

Their sixth album, We Were Here, was released 30 September 2013, and their seventh album Lost Property (recorded at Rockfield Studios with producer Ali Staton) was released on 29 January 2016.

On 26 January 2018 the band released their eighth album Invisible Storm.

Red Moon
Turin Brakes Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Sometimes just letting go is easier
Dead friends can't come back
They're gone and life goes on

If you try, you'll be alright
If you try, you'll be alright

I'm hanging around with you

We're catching the starlight
Underneath a red moon
Leaving the city tonight
We're finding our freedom
Underneath a red moon
Oh no, no, no, nooo

Leave your woes behind
Start the car and drive
Deserts bring you home
The only roads you've known

If you try, you'll be alright
If you try, you'll be alright

I'm hanging around with you
We're catching the starlight
Underneath a red moon
Leaving the city tonight
We're finding our freedom
Underneath a red moon
Oh no, no, no, nooo

Here it comes, you might as well
Here it comes, you might as well
You might as well

If you try, you'll be alright

I'm hanging around with you
We're catching the starlight
Underneath a red moon
Leaving the city tonight
We're finding our freedom

Underneath a red moon
Oh no, no, no, nooo

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Turin Brakes's "Red Moon" are about finding solace and escape from life's difficulties through the freedom of taking a spontaneous road trip with a friend. The first stanza acknowledges the pain of losing loved ones while also recognizing the necessity of moving on. The repeated refrain, "If you try, you'll be alright," serves as a reassuring message that, even in the face of hardship, things will eventually improve if we keep moving forward and trying.

The second stanza describes the sense of adventure that comes with leaving behind the city and embarking on a desert journey. Traveling at night under a red moon, the singer and a companion relish the freedom that comes with escaping daily troubles. The lines "Leave your woes behind / Start the car and drive" encapsulate the song's central message: to find comfort and hope, sometimes we need to break free from our usual patterns and go on a journey, trusting that the road will eventually lead us home.

The final stanza serves as a rallying cry to take action and embrace this spirit of adventure. "Here it comes" serves as an encouragement to embrace the unknown, to seize the moment and take a chance. The repetition of "you might as well" emphasizes the idea that sometimes the only way forward is to take risks, to live in the present and seize opportunities as they arise.

Line by Line Meaning

Sometimes just letting go is easier
It's hard to move on from a difficult situation, but sometimes it's better to just let go.

Dead friends can't come back
It's impossible to bring back someone who has passed away.

They're gone and life goes on
Even though it's hard to accept, life goes on after someone has died.

If you try, you'll be alright
If you put in the effort, things will eventually get better.

I'm hanging around with you
I'm spending time with you.

We're catching the starlight
We're enjoying the beauty of the night sky and the stars.

Underneath a red moon
Beneath the light of a red-colored moon.

Leaving the city tonight
We're leaving the busy urban area behind and going somewhere else tonight.

We're finding our freedom
We're discovering a sense of liberation and release.

Leave your woes behind
Forget about your problems and concerns.

Start the car and drive
We're getting in the car and hitting the road.