It seems like just yesterday that a young and emotional Turnover burst onto the radar with their self-titled 7” that was carried by the lovelorn anthem ‘Sasha’, and immediately stole everyone’s hearts. Well, that was 4 years ago, and in that time the quartet from Virginia Beach have gone from strength to strength with their debut album ‘Magnolia’, and last years excellent stop gap EP ‘Blue Dream’. It was on the aforementioned EP that it felt like a change was coming on the horizon for Turnover, and now as we reach their sophomore album ‘Peripheral Vision’, that change has been full embraced and given way to astounding results.
It would be easy to assume that Turnover were going to do what so many bands have done, and leave behind their anthemic pop-rock style in favour of a fuzzy indie-rock sound. Or worse, they could have ended up being wrongly mislabelled as going “shoegaze”, which is a term that is getting thrown around more and more, and is starting to lose it’s romanticism as much as the “emo” tag. While it’s safe to say that they will get many ill-fitting genre descriptors placed upon them with ‘Peripheral Vision’, the most important thing to realise about Turnover is that above anything, they have grown up.
When the lush delayed guitars of ‘Cutting My Fingers Off’ begin to ooze from your speakers, they are carried by vocalist Austin Getz, who sounds far more confident than on previous releases. While Turnover could never be described as a heavy band, the overall sound is far more reserved than their earlier work, yet no less engaging. The sign of growing up is confirmed on ‘New Scream’ where Getz informs you that “adolescent dreams gave to adult screams”, something that could not be more abundantly clear on ‘Peripheral Vision’.
As Turnover have grown as people, so has their playing. The song writing this time around feels far more accomplished. Even when they venture into early Death Cab For Cutie territory on ‘Hello Euphoria’ which although carries a very standard structure, the execution of it is perfect.Lyrically, they haven’t veered too far from the path they chose when they first started. Things are kept very honest still, but with the excellent diction of Getz delivery songs like ‘Diazepam’ and ‘Like Slow Disappearing’ do not need dressing up in any fancy word play. Sometimes you want to just understand the point that a writer is trying to get across, and being able to relate to the songs is what has made all of Turnover’s releases so inviting.
On first listen the songs do feel like they begin to blend into one another, as they are all heavily soaked in reverb, although this makes ‘Peripheral Vision’ stand as a singular body of work rather than 11 separate compositions thrown together to complete the record. By the time you reach the glorious ‘Intrapersonal’ the record feels incredibly well crafted, with a lot of thought put into the whole vibe and emotion of it. It flows well, soaring in the right places and reined in to a more fragile state when necessary.
While probably not everyone will welcome the change in direction that Turnover have taken, those that have followed the band will appreciate the growth in both musicianship and song writing. No band wants to put the same record out over and over again, and the more expansive sound that Turnover have embraced on ‘Peripheral Vision’ should be both applauded and welcomed.
GLEN BUSHELL