It has only been a couple of months since I use a music app (other than Bandcamp). At first I was mad with it, as it was suggesting music I should like which was either total crap or so much unlike my taste that I thought someone else might be using my account. Anyway, one day this app suggested I might want to listen to Turnstile. At first I got mad at it again (just listen to the first few seconds of opening track “Mystery”), but once the band really started, I decided to stick around for a while.
During my first listen of this album, I figured this would go down the same route as the previous albums of Turnstile: heard it once, never went back to it again. But the next day, as I was thinking about what I wanted to listen to, I thought: how about Turnstile? That's happened a lot since then.
As easy as I find this album to listen to, it's difficult to find a label for the music on it. This used to be a hardcore band, but they have long since passed that station. The roots are still there, but there is no way I would call “Underwater Boi” a hardcore song, for example. There is a lot going on with Glow On, but somehow there's a flow and coherence that makes it a very smooth album to listen to. This is quite an achievement if you consider that Turnstile mixed alt rock, indie rock, grunge, some post-punk, a pinch of psychedelics and electronic flourishes with their hardcore base.
The end result is not an unlistenable or directionless record – really the opposite. I applaud Turnstile, not only for the guts to step outside genre boundaries as they do here, but also for the very coherent vision that underlies it. I can imagine the fans of old to be disappointed, wanting more aggression. This record is sunny and shamelessly catchy and fun: it should garner them a whole new fanbase. A highly recommended album!
See also
Band website: https://www.turnstilehardcore.com/
