Based on
Turnover's early days as an emo-pop band along the lines of
Get Up Kids, few would guess that a decade later they'd be making slick and exceedingly comfortable dream disco. The band have been on a low-key quest since not long after they started to peel back the noise and tumult of emotion-fueled guitar rock to get to something that's just as powerful emotionally but far more nuanced musically. On
Myself in the Way, they've shed almost all the dream pop and shoegaze textures they'd been exploring in favor of a pulsing, neon blue sound that's influenced heavily by
Quincy Jones' recording techniques. The album sports a take on
Nile Rodgers' skittering guitar style, lathers on string sections borrowed from the
Salsoul Orchestra, and features vocals dialed down to just one notch above somnambulant, and often fed through a vocoder or tweaked with Auto-Tune. Half the time they use these elements to whip up breezy songs that are made for dancing on a warm summer night. The title track nimbly bops and glides with subtle grace as the strings swoop in and the bass bubbles, "People We Know" does much the same while adding snappy horn lines, and "Queen of the River" adds some classic lo-fi sounds and echoing guitar hooks. While it sounds a million miles away from their emo roots, the lyrics are suitably introspective and
Austin Getz's vocals are stripped of pretense even when they're processed to the hilt. Alongside the uptempo tracks, the band applies the same template to a batch of slower songs, creating a pleasant slowcore-meets-disco sound that's inviting and peacefully enveloping. "Wait Too Long" is probably the hookiest, riding a slow groove around a wandering bassline and lovely vocal melodies; "Tears of Change" is the weirdest, sounding a little like
American Football if they had the tiniest bit of rhythmic drive. That song comes early in the track list and gives bassist
Danny Dempsey a chance to shine. Turns out he's the unsung star of the album as he adds propulsive funk, spacy dub, and even some avant-garde plunking, while keeping the songs anchored in unexpected ways. The whole album is something of a surprise and the band make it work by wisely exploring both sides of the disco coin. Thanks to the care they put into the sound and the strength of the songs, they pull off their latest transformation smoothly. ~ Tim Sendra
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