Turn Off the Stars: Turn Off the Stars

Thank you for existing, Turn Off the Stars. In a wash of generic watered-down Keane and Coldplay knockoffs (which themselves were watered-down Radiohead knockoffs), here’s a band that doesn’t do a single thing innovative, but just understands the mastery of dynamics. The chords sound the same, but it’s the way they’re played that makes them familiar and different at the same time. “Please” is the immediate standout — a shimmering, aggressive rocker so good you’d swear it came across the pond (and not from Toronto). Singer Mike Walker isn’t great, but he’s still pretty good, even with his occasional Chris Martin-isms in his inflections. “Usual to Me” begins branching out a wee-bit stylistically, and the ballads (“Brightside” and “Getaway”) are top-notch, simply because actual emotion is put into them. The rest of the album sounds very similar to a lot of what’s out there, but they got a little extra kick going for them. It may not be spectacular now, but they could grow to become something almighty altogether.