Review || Turnover - "Myself in the Way"

Turnover are releasing their fifth full length titled “Myself in the Way” on November 4^th of 2022 through Run for Cover Records.

2015’s “Peripheral Vision” hit me in the face like a soft velvet glove waking me from the deepest musical sleep. The message was (not so) loud and clear; there’s a lot more great music out there. It’s sitting right next to the heaviest, fastest, more aggressive bands you’re accustomed to listening to and yet sounds nothing like it.

There’s a divine calmness to Turnover’s music that I will never get tired of; the songs are groovy, flow effortlessly in repetition in your head, simply beautiful. I found out there is a different way to have a good time while listening to music, which doesn’t have the top level energy and - sometimes - ferocity of a punk or hard-core song. That record played non - stop for years on every platform I own, even after “Good Nature” came out in 2017; the gloom of “Peripheral Vision” was just too overextending. I realigned with reality through 2019’s Altogether, a record showcasing some different elements for Turnover, blending more pop / electronic sounds into the production and generally experimenting with various musical styles in terms of synthesis. I really loved that record.

Fast forward almost three years later, the band hints at a new record by releasing a few singles which finally morph into the announcement of “Myself in the Way” coming out on the long-time record label / home Run for Cover Records a few months later. The record is again produced by Will Yip and for the first time singer Austin Getz is credited as co-producer. He mentions “I was inspired by the way Magical Mystery Tour and Dark Side of the Moon sounded. We decided … to utilize panning and stereo more than we had in the past, while also wanting it to sound tighter and smaller than some of our earlier records.” This is a perfect opening to explain what to expect from the new record. Getz continues, “We were inspired by drum and bass sounds from Chic and Quincy Jones records from the 70’s, we put the drums in the control room to get them to sound smaller”. This is essential when listening to “Myself in the Way”, as everything is exactly as described. He adds further “We let the synths share some of that low end that the drums and bass gave up. The horn and string lines I wanted to sound like classic era disco, mixed with modern synth and vocal sounds. … I utilized autotune and vocoder on this album almost as instruments on certain songs as a stylistic choice.” There’s no better way to describe it than the actual mastermind behind the musical approach to “Myself in the Way”. It’s 100% on point.

This is a Turnover record mixed with all of the aforementioned pieces. The problem for me is, I don’t like it as much. Maybe I’m a sucker for non - vintage production, non- disco related themes and not using too many vocal applications. Every previous body of work was exactly my cup of tea, even if I have to admit that “Altogether” was faintly pointing into the direction “Myself in the Way” is taking. I still enjoy everything about Turnover’s classic style and it shows on tracks like Tears of Change, Mountains Made of Clouds and Ain’t Love Heavy, I love the featured guest participation on the record and I understand why bands seek evolving after a certain point, however it is this route of experimentation I can’t quite grow into, hence why this particular record will score a bit lower for me than how I have treated all of the previous LP’s.

7/10         

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