"And I was afraid, but you were glowing like,
A most relieving light.
You were my revealing light.
I close my eyes and suddenly we were attached.
You stayed with me after the moment passed,
I felt you buried deep under my chest,
Like my lungs when I’m breathing in,
And I was not myself when I opened up my eyes again."
~Like Slow Disappearing
Turnover, Peripheral Vision
Lately I've been getting lost in "No Closer To Heaven," but the past two days I revisited an album that continues to captivate as much as it did the first time I heard it this year - Turnover's "Peripheral Vision." I took it in completely when it came out this May and played it several times over the summer, only to hear its tracks hold out pretty well on Pandora. Coming back to the LP was a solid choice - few bands are this good at keeping away from filler, and there isn't much of a weak moment to speak of here.
What a warm, resplendent sound this is, with choruses and hooks that sneak up on you. The landscape is awash in vintage emo tones but somehow sleeker, played through cleaner guitars but willing to lock into their groove. Forty minutes of desperation and wandering begin with the brilliant "Cutting My Fingers Off," a song that toys with tempo in all the right ways without losing a silky, melodic feel. I'm equally obsessed with the lovesick "Humming," which somehow manages to pull off peppy without losing the moodiness that precedes and follows it. The dueling verses in "Diazepam" are equal parts sad and honest and refreshing.
What I love about this record is its consistency, and how it unfurls. The layers that feed off one another, from interesting, unstructured lyrical patterns, to muted guitars acting as intros and adornments before their centerstage licks, wrapped up in a steady, slow bass and familiar backbeat.
I checked out some of their older work after this record and I can't say it took me in quite the same way; "Peripheral Vision" has a feel that pushes the genre's boundaries rather than living squarely between them, and I prefer the more interesting parts and sounds. The heavy echo and delay here, underscored by occasional backing harmonies to the subtle, muted leads, creates a sound that reminds me at once of 80s English rock and mid-aughts pop punk, committed to the slower sound. I'll take the combination, in all its wistful warmth and beleaguered maturity. Turnover made something special with this one and I hope the audiences at large treat them well for it.
Would you come here and spin with me?
I've been dying to get you dizzy,
Find a way up into your head
So I can make you feel like new again."
~Dizzy on the Comedown
Turnover, Peripheral Vision
Turnover, Peripheral Vision
