Listening to the folk pop duo Turin Brakes instantly brings to mind the sounds of the past mixed with the genre-bending style of Britain. Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian knew each other as boys in England and grew up singing in a choir together as well as listening to their parents' albums ranging from Leonard Cohen to Bob Dylan. They were separated when Knights went to film school and Paridjanian decided to try to start his own band in Canada. They came back together again when Knights was working on a score for his film project and enlisted the help of his old friend, Paridjanian.More came from the recording session than a film score, however, as they released an EP called The Door. After Knights graduated, the two started playing together again, but not out in public. Instead, they played in their bedrooms and started trying to write more music. The sessions eventually led to music that was fit to be played live, and the duo started playing together locally. Their music was soon heard by Phil Passera at Anvil Records and Turin Brakes was on its way. They released another EP, The Door, in 1999 on Anvil.They started receiving positive reviews because of the EP and also began playing at bigger venues. Turin Brakes was outgrowing their initial label and soon signed with Source. They released their debut album in 2001 with The Optimist. The album was loved by critics and also got them a Mercury Prize nomination. They toured to promote the album and also began working on another album. Turin Brakes truly became stars with the release of Ether Song in 2003. It was followed up with a compilation album in 2004 and another successful release, Jackinabox in 2005. They struck critical success again with the release of Dark on Fire in 2007.