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the brakes are back with album number three and it's business as usual. another immense collection of insanity, tunes to die for, great musicianship, intriguing lyrics and pop music. rough trade shop still love brakes with all our hearts. in november 2007, after 5 years of near constant touring, brakes said "we are hellishly close to collapse from nervous exhaustion," and the band decided on one more bout of recording before taking a two month break. they went to a small barn in oxfordshire, and spent a week waking up beside each other on the floor in -7c temperatures, to spend their waking hours recording new tracks. a musician called charles douglas, a cult songwriter who had recorded with mo tucker (velvet underground) and joey santiago (pixies), contacted the band and asked them to record one of his songs. they recorded the song 'ancient mysteries' (which brakes included on 'touchdown'). they finished the week with a gig at bath moles club and then shook hands and promised themselves some time off. rough trade records had released brakes' first two albums, but was unsure whether it could afford to release brakes' third in the credit crunch. brakes went on the lookout for a new home, and, like a dream come true, found one in their hometown, with the highly esteemed brighton-based label fat cat. almost instantly, fat cat booked them into the glasgow super studio chem 19, with the delgados' paul savage at the helm. they recorded and mixed the album in a month, then flew to upstate new york to master it with the legend alan douches. "it's our best yet," say brakes, "we're really happy with the way it came together and the sounds that were caught in chem 19," say brakes, before quickly adding: "touchdown is the fucking zenith of civilisation, it will make your jaw drop further than the dow jones in 2008, this album fucking shreds like an enron paper shredder, it is a-fucking-stounding, yeah."

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